As Chelsea prepare for another Champions League match at Stamford Bridge this evening, there will be one player watching on from the sidelines once again eager to be out on that pitch helping his team mates.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek has revealed that he is close to returning to full Chelsea training having been running and light training already, as he told Versus.
A long term achilles injury has stunted his Chelsea career in a time when he was producing the best football of his life.
He will be hoping to find his quick feet again as soon as possible and continue the form he was showing before the injury.
The 23 year old is targeting the England squad for the Euro 2020’s in the summer, so he will need to have a solid second half of the season to be considered by Gareth Southgate.
Loftus-Cheek believes that his best position is a box-to-box midfielder, and his favourite player whilst growing up may or may not surprise you!
In the same interview with Versus, he said:
Versus – Your ‘Lewisham Ballack’ chant is one of my favourites. You grew up in Lewisham and the Ballack comparison is obviously a big compliment, but who was your favourite player growing up?
“It was actually Zidane – Zidane was just mesmerising. I was starting to understand football as a kid just as he was coming to his last legs, even though he was still balling out!”
Versus – At Palace and during your academy days, you played a lot of positions. A former manager even said they would love to see you up top as a striker. Where do you see yourself playing in seasons to come?
“I’m most effective as a box-to-box midfielder. Getting up and down, creating and also defending.
“I’ve played in a number of positions because I’m versatile so it’s easy for managers to move me around. I played left and right midfield at Palace but I managed to do well.
“That’s cool when you’re coming up but as I’m maturing I kinda want to nail down one position and hopefully that position is box to box.”
