Central Coast Mariners midfielder John Hutchinson has been loaned to sister club Chengdu Blades, of the Chinese Super League, the A-League outfit announced yester-day.

Malta international Hutchinson has been granted permission by the Mariners to move to the Far East and join team-mate Adam Kwansik, who is also playing for the Chengdu Blades, guided by former Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna.

On Saturday, Hutchinson formed part of the Mariners side that beat Scottish FA Cup winners Celtic 1-0 in a pre-season friendly in Sydney. He will return to the Central Coast club shortly after the new Australian A-League season gets underway in October.

Last season, Hutchinson played 26 league matches for the Mariners, scoring one goal. He was part of the team that played in the A-League Grand Final against Brisbane Roar.

The Roar won the play-off 4-2 on penalties after a 2-2 draw.

This will be Hutchinson’s first experience outside Australia. At Chengdu, he will be looking to help the newly-promoted side recover from a difficult start in the Super League.

In fact, Chengdu Blades are currently launguishing in 12th place in the 16-team competition, without a win after six matches. In their last outing during the weekend, the Blades went down to Henan Jianye 2-0.

Chengdu Blades are one of three teams owned by English League One club Sheffield United, the other being Ferencvaros.

Following Hutchinson’s move to China, all three Sheffield-related clubs now have a Maltese international on their books.

Striker Daniel Bogdanovic plays for Sheffield United while goalkeeper Justin Haber and forward Andre Schembri figured for Ferencvaros last season even though both are expected to leave the Hungarian club this summer in search of pastures new.

Hutchinson, 31, made his debut for Malta in a friendly inter-national against the Czech Republic in 2009.

Since then, he went on to collect seven caps for the national team and was part of the side that lost 3-1 to Greece in a Euro 2012 qualifier, in Piraeus, last month.

It is still early to say if Hut-chinson will join the national squad for the August 10 friendly international against Central African Republic at the National Stadium.

The match will be a final warm-up for John Buttigieg’s team ahead of the Euro qualifier against Croatia at Ta’ Qali on September 2.

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