Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek is close to being considered the ‘perfect midfielder’ according to former England international Owen Hargreaves.
Loftus-Cheek impressed in the week for the Blues as they comfortably beat BATE 3-1 at Stamford Bridge in the Europa League, with the 22-year-old bagging himself a hattrick.
The midfielder has struggled for game time since returning to west London following his season-long loan spell with south Londoners Crystal Palace, where his performances convinced England manager Gareth Southgate to include him in England’s 23 man World Cup squad this summer in Russia.
His qualities haven’t gone unnoticed and his hat-trick on Thursday has only gone and increased his reputation, with BT Sport pundit Hargreaves insisting that Loftus-Cheek has all the capabilities of becoming the ‘perfect midfielder’ as long as he gets the game time.
Speaking on BT Sport (via the Daily Mail) Hargreaves said: “The most important thing he has to do is play football. He needs to play games.
“Training is… he’s past that point. He’s 22. This hat-trick… in fact, forget the goals… his overall performance was exceptional. He’s almost the perfect midfield player.
“Before he didn’t really have a position. He didn’t stop anyone like (N’Golo) Kante, he didn’t score goals from midfield like (Frank) Lampard, but today he got three.
“Ross Barkley has recently started to chip in with goals. If Loftus-Cheek can add this to his game he’s virtually like Dele Alli… he’s an unstoppable force. But this is the first time we’ve seen it this clearly. He’s been on everybody’s lips for a very long time.
“This today was a dominant performance and this could turn his career around.”
Hargreaves believes that Loftus-Cheek could fit into the Chelsea starting eleven almost instantly and with the likes of both N’Golo Kante and Jorginho playing alongside him, the young Englishman would only get better playing for Maurizio Sarri’s side.
“Kante is the best player in the world in his position. He’s a specialist (at breaking up play). Jorginho is one of the best passers of the ball in Europe. They are specialists in their positions.
“Ruben Loftus-Cheek is a Swiss army knife, really. He’s got everything.
“But today he specialised as a goalscoring midfield player and I think if he can give that to his manager he will play him.”
The post Hargreaves praises ‘perfect midfielder’ Loftus-Cheek following European hat-trick appeared first on Squawka News.
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