The Frenchman said he was too old to go on loan, I thought it was a silly statement.

I agree.

Gareth Barry is no spring chicken, but his loan to Everton last season was a brilliant success, with him displaying some great form.

Ill repost my response, i still stand by it.

Well, too old to go out on loan for development reasons, its conditional. At 25 you shouldn't really be sent out by your club to develop more or to show them something else. They should know you by then and you should just be coming in to your prime. Thats what i was pointing to, not just too old in general.

As I've said before a loan for form gaining reason, like the one listed above, is fine. This is common practice, even for players older than Kruse. My point was directed at him being taken on loan for development reasons.

Players never stop developing aspects of their game. They may not improve their technique after a while, but players are always developing even if at a slower rate.
In the end, they probably would have sold him this season but for the fact he'd be worth bugger all due to last season. A good year out on loan will drive up his price for next summer.

Rickie Lambert is a good case in point about improving at an older age.