Ruben Loftus-Cheek has admitted he would have liked more Chelsea appearances under his belt by now, but isn’t worried about the way his ‘journey’ has gone so far.
The midfielder is a product of Chelsea’s youth academy and made his debut for the Blues in December 2014.
However, since then, Loftus-Cheek has only made 59 senior club appearances, with 25 of those coming on loan at Crystal Palace last season.
But that loan spell earned him a place in Gareth Southgate’s England squad that reached the World Cup semi-final this summer, with Loftus-Cheek keeping his place for the latest Three Lions squad for the Spain and Switzerland games.
Under new Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri, Loftus-Cheek has only played 33 minutes of Premier League football across two substitute appearances owing to the pre-season form of Ross Barkley and loan-arrival of Mateo Kovacic from Real Madrid.
But the midfielder has told Sky Sports he is happy to be patient and work for his opportunities.
He said: “I’d like to have more appearances by now, but it’s just the way my journey has gone, and I just have to be patient with it.
“I can see it as a positive; I’m playing for England, playing well when I play, and that’s without too many appearances so it’s still raw in that sense.”
Loftus-Cheek also reflected on his early days at Chelsea, and how training alongside their world-class talent helped to develop him as a player, but admitted that he needed his loan spell at Crystal Palace to get more exposure to the Premier League.
“Being at Chelsea, it’s a top club with top players,” he added. “When I’m training at 17 or 18 with the first team, it was really good for my education playing with these top players.
“I really enjoyed playing and training with them, I could feel myself getting better every day and improving, but it got to a point where training wasn’t enough and you need the exposure in the Premier League.
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“That’s when I took the chance to go to Palace, and even when that happened, I thought I could’ve done it earlier. I started really enjoying my football, playing in the Premier League every week, and I felt the benefits.
“The benefit of last season at Palace [was first-team football]. I was fortunate enough to be fit for that period where it’s like a game every three days over Christmas, and I got my body used to being able to play, have a rest, then play on a Tuesday. That was massive for me and I coped with it well.”
Chelsea’s next game is at home to Cardiff on Saturday, where they can make it five wins from their opening five Premier League games.
The post Ruben Loftus-Cheek: 59 games in four years not enough appeared first on Squawka News.
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