27 year old Ruben Loftus-Cheek was an incredibly highly rated youth prospect as he came through Chelsea’s Academy ranks, but for whatever reason, his career at Stamford Bridge basically stalled in the nine years he was with them – but he did have good loan spells out with both Crystal Palace and Fulham, and picked up the first of his ten England international caps back in 2017.
During the last summer transfer window, he left his boyhood club Chelsea with 73 starting appearances, and a further 82 showings from the substitutes bench across all competitions, but his actual true game experience is incredibly poor give his age and he will be looking to quickly rectify that having made a £15 million move to Italian Serie A side AC Milan over the summer.
“After I played against them in the Champions League, Milan showed that they were interested in me. I wasn’t thinking about it too much, the season at Chelsea was still long, but towards the end things changed. Milan has always been a great club, after speaking with Pioli I was convinced to move here.”
Since arriving at the San Siro Stadium at the end of June, Loftus-Cheek has gone on to feature in all four of their domestic league gams so far, and he seems to have quickly established himself as a key player for them, so you would expect his starting experience and numbers to really rocket now.
Speaking to DAZN recently, the player felt that with his former club often playing him as a right back, feeling so uncomfortable with the role, he feels it actually held him back.
“I have played in many positions during my career, in the last two years mainly in a defensive position and it was not a natural thing for me. I have always liked having the ball at my feet and the freedom to create and be decisive. I couldn’t do it in the last two seasons, that way of playing didn’t make me happy. Now, however, I play in a position where I have more freedom, so I feel good.”
Having scored just one goal between 2021 and 2023 given his more defensive duties, the 27 year old is already feeling better about his role at his new club, as he has already been handed far more offensive freedom and having helped himself to a hat trick in one of their pre season friendlies, he is looking forward to getting back on both the scoring and assist sheets in the months ahead, in fact, he has already registered his first two assists.
There will be few who feel the former Chelsea Academy graduate will likely be in double figures for both goals and assists as the current campaign nears its conclusion in the months to come.
Image from: unsplash.com
