Ruben Loftus-Cheek was one of the first signings that AC Milan made during the summer window and that extra preparation time seems to be paying off.
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La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) recall how Loftus-Cheek was present on day one at Milanello for preseason, and he took possession of the midfield one afternoon in mid-July, when the leaders of the dressing room were still on holiday and the rest of the team was taking shape during the mercato.
He never let go, including these 10 days of break that separate Milan from the derby against Inter on 16 September. The internationals have seen 15 players leave the Rossoneri squad to go represent their country but for Loftus-Cheek it’s as you were.
The new Milan has begun to build around the muscles of Loftus-Cheek and will continue in the same way ahead of the first derby of the season, which will of course be the first for the former Chelsea man too.
Even if the season is only three games in, imagining a Milan today without the Englishman is a rather complicated exercise. This applies for the fans – who have had to get used to seeing a No.8 without ‘TONALI’ above – and for the team.
It was enough for Pioli to sub his off during Roma-Milan, shortly after Tomori’s red card, which sent Theo Hernandez into confusion, who waved his arms and asked for explanations before Pioli reminded him he was on a yellow card.
Pioli wanted to avoid any nasty surprises ahead of the derby, because playing that game with Loftus-Cheek could make all the difference in the world.
The 27-year-old has everything that Milan has lacked in recent years compared to Inter in the midfield: physicality, power, solidity. More technical, obviously, as demonstrated by the runs against Torino and Roma.
Against the former, Loftus-Cheek set up Christian Pulisic to score after a bursting run, and against the latter he earned the penalty with which Giroud scored at the Olimpico.
Pioli praised him during the USA tour: “Ruben is a strong player. He combines physicality and quality, he likes to fit in. I would like to see him continuously in the opposing area.”
The paper also reveals that the Milan boss indicated his name to the management before the summer mercato, and that he planned to exploit him ‘a la Milinkovic-Savic’. And Loftus-Cheek is proving him right, thanks to increasing performance levels.
The inclusion of Maurizio Sarri’s former protégé is proceeding quickly for a couple of reasons. First of all, the speed of the negotiation that took him from London to Milan helped as he was second reinforcement after Sportiello.
He spent the entire preseason preparing at Milanello and quickly acquired the knowledge and instructions of his new coach, who also – based on his characteristics – remodelled Milan with a 4-3-3 system.
Before signing, he and Pioli talked about the position in which he would play and the coach’s plans convinced him, as he admitted: “Playing in a three-man midfield is what I prefer, I already did it during my time at the Chelsea Academy.”
The relationship with the his former Chelsea team-mates is helping too. Fikayo Tomori acts as his interpreter in everyday life (Pioli addresses him in English in training), while Christian Pulisic is his tactical reference on the pitch.
The American is the player to whom Loftus-Cheek has delivered the most balls (19) and the one from whom he has received the most balls (13). The agreement has already produced a goal and will provide Milan with new weapons to attack Inter.
Simone Inzaghi he will not only have to guard against the Theo-Reijnders-Leao triangle, but also against the dangers of the Loftus-Cheek-Pulisic axis.
In his first 68 days as a Milan player, Loftus-Cheek has already been many things. He started as an attacking midfielder in preseason, continued by playing deeper to guard the defence while Reijnders was the one to break forward (in his debut against Bologna) and then landed in the opposing area as a raider (vs. Torino and Roma).
What created the foundations for the latest metamorphosis was Calabria’s almost constant advancement along the midfield line. The formula lured out Ivan Juric and Jose Mourinho’s press, and sucked them into a trap.
Loftus-Cheek and Calabria are among the players left at the training ground during the break, and Pioli will use this to his advantage.
There are areas to work on too. In these first three games, sometimes his man managed to get away from him like Lewis Ferguson and Per Schuurs, but that’s what this period is for.
