It's called learning from history.
The loans you are referring to that 'look good on paper' because they are a 'big' club, I don't think they do look good on paper, because it looks like we just went with the 'best' club in for the player.
It's also quite obvious if a manager was there last season doing a stable job, compared to someone who's just got the (high pressure) job for a club that's in turmoil. Is that ridiculous? Ironically, it looks to me like we have a 'no level of due diligence' policy.
It's also fairly obvious if that player is probably the best player for his position, he'll get game time, versus being up against a few senior pros who are probably better all told. And I'm only talking about a first year loan, to acclimatise to the physicality, rather than waste a year of development. Then the following year they can go for a loan that looks 'great on paper', but even then I think you can use a level of diligence.