Ruben Loftus-Cheek

Ruben Loftus-Cheek

Loftus-Cheek playing for Chelsea in 2014
Personal information
Full name Ruben Ira Loftus-Cheek[1]
Date of birth (1996-01-23) 23 January 1996
Place of birth Lewisham, England
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[2]
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Chelsea
Number 14
Youth career
2004–2014 Chelsea
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014– Chelsea 17 (1)
National team‡
2011 England U16 2 (1)
2012–2013 England U17 8 (2)
2013–2015 England U19 13 (6)
2015– England U21 13 (5)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:21, 15 October 2016 (UTC).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 20:20, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

Ruben Ira Loftus-Cheek (born 23 January 1996) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Chelsea and for the England under-21 national team.

Club career

Chelsea

Loftus-Cheek joined Chelsea at the age of eight. He impressed at the beginning of the 2011–12 season before picking up a hip injury, from which he recovered by the end of the season to make a substitute appearance in the 2012 FA Youth Cup final. In the 2012–13 season, Loftus-Cheek made 18 appearances for the U-18 squad and 9 appearances for the U-21 squad, at the end of the season he was rewarded for his good form to travel with a place in the first-team squad for a post season friendly against Manchester City in May 2013.[3] In 2013–14 Loftus-Cheek captained Chelsea U18 as they won the FA Youth Cup and was a regular for the U21s as they won the Under-21 Premier League.[4]

2014–15 season

Loftus-Cheek made his senior debut for the club on 10 December 2014, replacing Cesc Fàbregas for the final 7 minutes of a UEFA Champions League group match against Sporting Lisbon at Stamford Bridge; Chelsea won 3–1 having already come first in the group.[4] He played his first Premier League game on 31 January 2015, coming on for Oscar in added time at the end of a 1–1 home draw against Manchester City.[5]

On 3 February, Loftus-Cheek was promoted into José Mourinho's first team squad alongside fellow teenager Isaiah Brown.[6]

On 13 April, Loftus-Cheek played for Chelsea U19 in the final of the 2014–15 UEFA Youth League against Shakhtar Donetsk in Switzerland which ended with a 3–2 victory for Chelsea.[7] On 10 May 2015, Loftus-Cheek was awarded his first start against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge,[8] playing 60 minutes and recording a 100% pass completion record, before being replaced by Nemanja Matić, in a game that ended 1–1 draw.[9][10] Although Loftus-Cheek only made three league appearances out of the whole season, Mourinho stated that he would receive a winner's medal for his contributions this season.[11]

2015–16 season

On 29 August 2015, Loftus-Cheek made his first appearance coming off the bench against Crystal Palace as Chelsea suffered their first home defeat of the season.[12] On 10 January 2016, Loftus-Cheek came on as a half-time substitute for Oscar in an FA Cup match against Scunthorpe United, and scored his first senior goal of his career in the 68th minute of the match, which Chelsea won 2–0.[13] Excluding John Terry, he became the first player to have been at Chelsea since before the age of 15 and score for them since Carlton Cole 10 years and 3 days earlier.[14]

On 29 February 2016, Loftus-Cheek signed a new five-year deal after impressing when given the chance in the first team.[15] He scored his first league goal on 2 April, scoring the opener in a 4–0 win against Aston Villa away.[16] After scoring his first league goal, Loftus-Cheek continued to be in the starting line-up in the following two matches against Swansea City[17] and Manchester City.[18]

2016–17 season

Under new manager, Antonio Conte, Loftus-Cheek was deployed as a striker, playing along side Diego Costa during preseason.[19] After the loan departure of Bertrand Traoré, Loftus-Cheek was handed the number 14 shirt prior to the season's beginning, switching from his previous number 36. [20]

On 23 August 2016, Loftus-Cheek made his first appearance of the season, starting against Bristol Rovers in the Second round of the EFL Cup. He started the build-up of the first goal, as well as providing the assist to the third goal scored by Michy Batshuayi, which turned out to be the winner of a 3–2 victory.[21] He received a standing ovation as he was coming-off for Oscar in 82th minute, and was also praised by Conte after the match.[22]

International career

Loftus-Cheek first represented England at under-16 level in 2011 and then progressed through to the U17, U19 and U21 sides.[23] In 2015 he received his first call up to the England U21 side, being named in the provisional squad for the European Championship after impressing for the U19s and breaking into the senior Chelsea team.[24]

In 2016, Loftus-Cheek took part in the Toulon Tournament with England and scored what proved to be the winning goal in the final against France. After the match he was named Player of the Tournament, becoming the first English player to win the award since Alan Shearer in 1991.[25]

Playing style

After his first-team debut, Barney Ronay of The Guardian described Loftus-Cheek as an "intriguing" player of "long-striding grace" saying that with his "shielding, covering, deep-playmaking presence with a calmness in possession and a naturally telescopic reach" he would be a good fit for the senior England national team.[26] Loftus-Cheek was compared to Germany great Michael Ballack by former Chelsea and England manager Glenn Hoddle, whom said that: “He reminds me of Ballack – physically and the way he plays,” and went on to say: “He gets in the box and he moves well off the ball."[27]

Throughout his career, Loftus-Cheek has been playing either as a center-midfielder or a defensive-midfielder, but Chelsea manager Antonio Conte stated that he see Loftus-Cheek with the potentials of a striker since he has "good technique, good personality and he is good one v one".[28]

Personal life

Loftus-Cheek is the half-brother of former professional footballers Carl and Leon Cort.[9]

Career statistics

As of match played 15 October 2016.[29]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Chelsea 2014–15[30] Premier League 3000001[lower-alpha 1]040
2015–16[31] Premier League 13121101[lower-alpha 1]0172
2016–17[32] Premier League 100020—30
Career total 171213020242
  1. 1 2 Appearance in UEFA Champions League

Honours

Club

Chelsea Reserves[33]

International

England U21[29]

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "2:0! U19 bezwingt Chelsea" [2:0! U19 defeat Chelsea] (in German). FC Schalke 04. 25 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  2. ↑ "Ruben Loftus-Cheek". Chelsea F.C. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "Ruben Loftus-Cheek Profile". Chelsea F.C.
  4. 1 2 "Chelsea 3–1 Sporting". BBC Sport. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  5. ↑ McNulty, Phil (31 January 2015). "Chelsea 1-1 Man City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  6. ↑ "More Academy graduates in first team squad", Chelsea Official Site, 3 February 2015, retrieved 3 February 2015
  7. ↑ Brown inspires Chelsea to Youth League glory - UEFA Youth League - News - UEFA.com
  8. ↑ "Ruben Loftus-Cheek gets first Chelsea start against Liverpool". ESPN. 10 May 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  9. 1 2 Higginson, Marc (10 May 2015). "Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  10. ↑ Ruben Loftus-Cheek: Analysis of the Chelsea midfielder's full debut | Football News | Sky Sports
  11. ↑ Every Chelsea player to get a Premier League medal says Jose Mourinho | ESPN
  12. ↑ "Crystal Palace claim shock win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge". ESPN. 29 August 2015.
  13. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35216358
  14. ↑ Edwards, Dan (10 January 2016). "Loftus-Cheek ends TEN-YEAR Chelsea hoodoo". Goal.com. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  15. ↑ "New deal for Loftus-Cheek". Chelsea F.C. 29 February 2016.
  16. ↑ Henson, Mike (2 April 2016). "Aston Villa 0-4 Chelsea". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  17. ↑ Swanseas City 1-0 Chelsea, Soccerway, 9 April 2016
  18. ↑ Chelsea 0-3 Manchester City, Soccerway, 16 April 2016
  19. ↑ "Conte: Good schooling". Chelsea. 20 July 2016.
  20. ↑ "Squad list announced". Chelsea F.C. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  21. ↑ "Chelsea 3-2 Bristol Rovers". BBC Sports. 23 August 2016.
  22. ↑ "Ruben Loftus-Cheek impressing as a striker for Antonio Conte's Chelsea". SkySports. 24 August 2016.
  23. ↑ "Ruben Loftus-Cheek". The Football Association. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  24. ↑ "England U21s name 27-man long squad for Euro Finals". The Football Association. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  25. ↑ Maston, Tony (29 May 2016). "Chelsea's Loftus-Cheek named Player of the Toulon Tournament". Goal. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  26. ↑ Ronay, Barney (10 December 2014). "Chelsea's Ruben Loftus-Cheek gives glimpse of future against Sporting". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  27. ↑ "He reminds me of Ballack' – Hoddle on Loftus-Cheek". Goal.com. Goal. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  28. ↑ "Conte: Good schooling". Chelsea. 20 July 2016.
  29. 1 2 Ruben Loftus-Cheek profile at Soccerway. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  30. ↑ "Games played by Ruben Loftus-Cheek in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  31. ↑ "Games played by Ruben Loftus-Cheek in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  32. ↑ "Games played by Ruben Loftus-Cheek in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  33. ↑ "Ruben Loftus-Cheek Profile". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  34. ↑ Chelsea's UEFA Youth League-winning stars of the future | Football News | Sky Sports
  35. ↑ "England beat France to win Toulon Tournament for first time in 22 years". The Guardian. 29 May 2016.
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