Among Chelsea academy graduates to break through to the senior squad, one of the notable ones has been Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Showing promise from an early age and touted to follow John Terry’s footsteps into playing first-team football, the 23-year old English midfielder hasn’t yet made good on his promise and is set to join Chelsea’s burgeoning loan army with the likes of newly-promoted Newcastle United hovering.
Loftus-Cheek has been compared with Michael Ballack by Glenn Hoddle, the former Chelsea and England manager, due to his superlative vision and passing range. In his first start for Chelsea under Jose Mourinho, the player returned 100% pass completion figures in a game against Liverpool playing for the better part of an hour.
Antonio Conte has stated that the midfielder could make a name for himself as a forward due to his ball retention capacity and being good in one vs. one situations.
Loftus-Cheek has been a permanent feature for his national team with only injury preventing him from starring for England in the recently concluded European under-21 Championship. Former Newcastle interim manager, John Carver has urged Rafa Benitez at the helm of The Toon to capitalise on Chelsea’s abundance of young talent seeking first-team football opportunities.
With Chelsea looking to send the player out on loan to gain valuable Premier League experience, a deal could materialise in the interest of both the parties sooner rather than later.
“Going into this market with Rafa’s experience, with his connections in the game at Chelsea and Liverpool, I know they’ve been linked with a young boy from Liverpool – Ojo,” said Carver.
“You were talking about [Nathaniel] Chalobah and [Ruben] Loftus-Cheek, why don’t they go in and get two or three of those? That’ll improve the squad slowly but surely.
“He needs three or four hardcore game-changers, marquee players. For example, a centre forward who’s going to chip in with 12, 15, 16 goals. That’ll almost guarantee you Premier League status for next season.”
Former Liverpool and interim Chelsea manager, Benitez is going to need all the help that he can get to stay afloat in the Premier League. Said to be frustrated by the lack of transfer activity, Benitez would want to conclude the Loftus-Cheek deal, being ahead of the pack chasing his signature as of now.
Having missed out on boy-wonder Tammy Abraham to Swansea, The Magpies have so far signed Christian Atsu from Chelsea in a £6m deal.
Newly promoted Brighton Hove & Albion are also interested in signing Loftus-Cheek on a loan deal and could go head to head with Newcastle.
