Ruben Loftus-Cheek has provided enough evidence that he can be called upon by Maurizio Sarri anytime and he will not disappoint after a masterclass display against Vidi in the Europa League.
It was his first start this season and after many expected that he might be a bit rusty after so long out, but Loftus-Cheek kept his head down and put in a fine performance. The 22-year old proved that when given the chance, he may actually be an improvement on a number of his senior colleagues in Chelsea’s midfield.
Ahead of him in the advanced midfield roles are Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kante and Ross Barkley as Sarri’s choices early in the season have shown but his performance against Vidi on Thursday may give the Italian tactician a lot to ponder in the coming weeks.
Loftus-Cheek dribbled past defenders of Vidi a number of times to burst into the opposition box to create chances and could have easily had a penalty given if the referees paid attention to the details in his drive forward. That is what club captain Gary Cahill believes is a strong weapon of Loftus-Cheek.
“Ruben did well against MOL Vidi. For me he is a very exciting player. He is in that mould where he likes to get in the pockets and turn. He is at his best when he’s driving at defenders.
He has a lot of pace and a lot of power. You saw that in the World Cup and again last night — he should have won a clear penalty (when tripped by Paulo Vinicius). That was a situation where he ran from the edge of the box and it’s hard to get hold of him when he does that. He will be pleased to get some game time, some minutes and get some sharpness.”
Gary Cahill, Evening Standard
