A few days prior to the PSG match, Chelsea manager José Mourinho noted that nineteen-year-old academy product Ruben Loftus-Cheek is most certainly included his future plans.
Loftus-Cheek joined Chelsea Football Club as an under-8 and has been in the academy ever since. Standing tall at an intimidating 6’4”, he impressively began flirting with the first team as a teenager this season. He had appeared on the bench quite a few times, but it wasn’t until December when Ruben made his Chelsea first team debut in a Champions League group stage fixture at Stamford Bridge. He came on for the last seven minutes and dazzled a home crowd who was eager to witness his talents with an impressive showcase in midfield. Ruben also appeared against Manchester City at home where he came on for only a few moments during stoppage time. A few days later on February 3rd, the young Englishman was promoted into José Mourinho’s first team squad. It’s been an interesting season for Loftus-Cheek, training every day with the likes of Eden Hazard, Cesc Fàbregas, and company will do nothing but test his abilities and push his development to the next level.
“Loftus-Cheek is to stay and I think to stay and to play,” said Mourinho as he spoke about young players and the club’s tendencies in regards to either selling or utilizing them. The Portuguese went on to explain, “At the age of 18 or 19, sometimes you don’t believe that the player can go in a certain direction so you make a couple of million [through a sale] for a player and you are just happy with that. At academy level you know clearly that not everyone is going to become a player for your first team. So sometimes, if you can capitalise on that and make money in small deals, you can make the money you need to invest again and again and again in the academy to get the right talents that you bring to the first team. Loftus-Cheek is one of those who will stay.”
Encouraging words from José have shown that Chelsea is going in the right direction when it comes to youth: English teenagers within the academy are slowly creeping their way into Mourinho’s side. While Chelsea will always remain a big club who can bring in expensive foreign talent, promoting English academy players is an extremely important action that is becoming a lost art amongst the ‘big’ clubs within England’s top flight. Englishmen like John Terry are becoming a rarity, and so overall it is delightful to see José so interested in his young English academy talents.
One thing’s for sure after The Special One’s comments, and it’s that we can expect to see a lot more from Ruben Loftus-Cheek next season!
