Saints Loanees

One of the teams I enjoy following is Southampton FC (England, ). A recent article pointed out that they had loaned a couple of young, promising players out to other clubs. Young goalkeeper Michael Poke was going to Woking (England, Nationwide Conference). Leon Best was going to join Yeovil (England, League One). And Simon Gillet had just joined Bournemouth (England, League One). Teams loan players out for several reasons. Sometimes they do it to help a player better get in shape. This may be in the form of a short term loan. Other times teams feel the level of competition and experience the player gains would be better than playing for their own club's youth or reserve teams. Leon Best is likely joining Yeovil for this reason. Other times it's because the player no longer features in their plans but they either can't find a buyer at a price they want up front or they want to wait and see just in case. Tim Howard is an example of this type of situation as it's likely Sir Alex feels he's not in Manchester United's long term solution for GK. I've wonder why the MLS hasn't been able to land a few loan signings for English players. Maybe the cost of it doesn't make it worth it. But the league offers young players a chance to play at a decent level of competition, surely no worse than League One, during a period of time that largely covers their off season. Even though the players are several thousand miles away, the culture difference for the players is minimal. And a look both an MLS roster and starting lineup shows the league doesn't have any issue with playing young players every week. So why haven't a few young English players popped up in the MLS? Do teams thing the level of competition isn't good enough? Do English clubs want the players around for pre-season training to better asses their plans for them? Is the MLS just not interested in making these sort of moves?