4 reasons why Ruben Loftus-Cheek needs to leave Chelsea this summer

After their stirring run to the semi-finals of the World Cup, many of England’s young stars have never seen their stock rise as high as it does now. And while he didn’t make as much of an impact as Harry Maguire, Kieran Trippier or Jordan Pickford, Chelsea youngster Ruben Loftus-Cheek certainly enhanced his reputation with his performances in Russia.

The question for ‘RLC’ is now simple – does he stay at Chelsea and try to break into their first team, something he’s never managed, in 2018/19? Or does he look to move – whether it’s another loan like last season’s stint at Crystal Palace, or a more permanent move?

Chelsea have suggested that Loftus-Cheek isn’t for sale, but everyone knows that player power is the biggest factor to decide moves these days. Here are 4 reasons, then, why Loftus-Cheek should look for a permanent move away from Stamford Bridge.

#1: Chelsea’s midfield is packed to the brim

Recent signing Jorginho adds another name to an already-packed Chelsea midfield

After finishing in a disappointing 5th place in the Premier League in 2017/18, Chelsea last week fired manager Antonio Conte, replacing him with former Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri. And immediately joining the Blues from Napoli was Italian midfielder Jorginho, signed for somewhere around £51m. Admittedly, Jorghino is a holding midfielder, but right now, any midfielder joining Chelsea acts as competition for Loftus-Cheek.

The arrival of Jorginho is another sign that Chelsea’s short-termism will continue; each new manager who arrives wishes to bring in their own personnel, meaning that players signed or developed by the previous suddenly find competition for places in the squad much harder than before. If Chelsea decides to play with Sarri’s favoured 4-3-3 formation from Napoli, then that leaves around 7 central midfielders vying for just 3 places.

With Jorginho’s fee probably cementing him as the holding midfielder, and N’Golo Kante almost impossible to drop due to his imperious form over the last two seasons, Loftus-Cheek would hypothetically be competing with Cesc Fabregas and Ross Barkley for the third spot – not impossible, but that’s, of course, assuming Sarri doesn’t bring in another central midfielder – which isn’t beyond the realm of possibility.

Essentially, with a new boss at the helm it’s hard to imagine that RLC could be considered a vital first-team player at Stamford Bridge in 2017/18 – and if that’s not the case, then he probably needs to move on.

#2: His weaknesses will only be improved by more experience

Loftus-Cheek still needs to work on his consistency and stamina

The scouting report on Loftus-Cheek tends to describe him as a box-to-box midfielder who’s capable of breaking up opposition plays and acting as a playmaker for his own team, from a deep-lying position or further forward. His dribbling is excellent, he’s quick and powerful and he’s hard to knock off the ball. He’s also capable of scoring and assisting in goals.

So what exactly are his weaknesses? Essentially, Loftus-Cheek doesn’t have any major holes in his game, but areas he has struggled with are his stamina in tougher games and his consistency, as he’s tended to drift in and out of games at times. The latter was seen a couple of times for England in the World Cup, in fact. Both of these point to one issue – he simply lacks experience at the top level.

It’s hardly surprising given he’s only ever started 27 Premier League games – 21 of those coming with Crystal Palace during his loan spell there last season. In comparison, Dele Alli, who is the same age as Loftus-Cheek, has started 97 Premier League games in the same time period. But of course, Alli has been granted far more opportunities at Tottenham and thus is further developed than the Chelsea starlet.

With Loftus-Cheek’s weaknesses being ones that will only begin to fade away with more top-level experience, he simply cannot afford to spend another season as a bit-part at Chelsea. He needs to be starting games each and every week, assuming he’s healthy, and it just doesn’t seem likely that he’ll do that at Stamford Bridge.

#3: The loan system can be risky

Lewis Baker's career has suffered after a bad loan spell at Middlesbrough - showing the dangers of the loan system

Last season, Loftus-Cheek was a clear success story of the loan system – he spent all of 2017/18 at Crystal Palace, and became a key player for the Eagles as they recovered from a poor start to climb up the table under the leadership of Roy Hodgson, eventually finishing in a respectable 11th position. On the face of it then, if he can’t get first team football at Chelsea, then another loan spell – at Palace or elsewhere – sounds like a good idea.

But the loan system doesn’t always act as flawlessly as it did for Loftus-Cheek last season. As a matter of fact, two of his Chelsea teammates ended up suffering during loan spells largely through no fault of their own.

Tammy Abraham was loaned to Swansea City for the season and despite struggling for service, he started the season well, scored 4 goals early on and found himself in the England squad by November. But when boss Paul Clement was fired and replaced by Carlos Carvalhal, Abraham’s playing time was suddenly cut down, as the Portuguese boss preferred the Ayew brothers as his forward partnership.

Abraham started just a handful of Swansea’s later games and his World Cup hopes went up in smoke.

Then spare a thought for Lewis Baker, a player who came up through Chelsea’s system alongside Loftus-Cheek and was said to be equally as talented. After a tremendous 2015/16 season with Vitesse Arnhem, Baker moved to Middlesbrough for a season – only to be frozen out at the Championship club when Tony Pulis took over and simply didn’t like his style. In the end, he started just 6 games and is now looking to rebuild his career at Leeds in 2018/19.

The loan system can be brilliant if the move works out, but even for a player of RLC’s calibre there’s no guarantee that it will – especially with the Premier League being volatile when it comes to management changes. And a club is much less likely to give chances to a loan player than they would be for a player whose contract they actually own.

#4: Competition for England places will be heating up

Players like Harry Winks will be pushing hard to take a spot in the England squad

While Loftus-Cheek seemed to find himself behind only Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard for one of England’s attacking midfield berths in the World Cup, there’s simply no guarantee that he’ll remain in that spot going forward. With the quest for a natural playmaker for the Three Lions about to begin, there can be no doubt that competition for a spot in the England squad is about to heat up.

Players who didn’t go to the World Cup like Harry Winks, Jack Wilshere, Jonjo Shelvey and Lewis Cook will be working hard to try to find their own spot in Gareth Southgate’s squad, while the development of young talent like Mason Mount and Phil Foden might add other names into the hat of possibilities in England’s central midfield.

For Loftus-Cheek, this means that the only way he’ll be able to retain his spot is by continuing to improve his overall game, and mainly by continuing to play in the Premier League, week-in, week-out. And whether he’ll be able to this at Chelsea is just too much of a question mark for him to risk staying.

After the World Cup, suddenly the importance of playing for England that was once lacking is back again in a big way. Loftus-Cheek simply can’t afford to risk missing out on what could be an era of success for the Three Lions – and so he may need to leave Chelsea to realise that goal.