After Marco Sportiello, Ruben Loftus-Cheek will very soon become the second signing of what seems like a very busy summer for AC Milan in this upcoming transfer window.
It is a move that has been speculated about for some time now given that Loftus-Cheek’s name has been mentioned in conjunction with Milan for each of the last few transfer window.
What is surprising to some is that he is player that Paolo Maldini seemingly wanted above all, but now after his departure the Englishman is someone who Geoffrey Moncada felt would be a good addition to the squad too.
So, with the transfer being finalised and Fabrizio Romano giving the ‘here we go’ to it, let’s look a little bit more in detail at the new 16M (plus add ons) signing and his journey in football thus far.
Humble beginnings
As a member of the famous Cobham academy at Chelsea, Ruben was an extremely touted youngster at youth level. Unfortunately for him, he broke through during a time where Chelsea was not known to promote youth as much as they do now.
Managers at the time were more inclined to spend in the market rather giving the young players a chance. Due to this, the midfielder decided to go out on loan during the 2017-18 season to Crystal Palace.
This move turned out to be a success for him as he played extremely well that season and he put himself out there as a lot of people started to know about him since his play style was rare.
He was and is a player with noticeable size at 6ft4, but with the ability to move around the pitch as if he was a winger. Some Yaya Toure comparisons came around because of this, but his development was not as linear.
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After that successful season on loan, Loftus-Cheek returned to Chelsea with a new manager at the helm: Maurizio Sarri. It seemed that despite the great year he had, it would have been hard for him to break through the team as Sarri is known for his lack of rotation, meaning he was expected to stick to the usual starters during the course of the season.
This was the case at the start as Sarri did do that, but Loftus-Cheek started to impress him during small cameos and his hard work and persistence eventually allowed him to break into the first team, with his most notable performance coming in the Europa League vs. Bate Borisov in which he bagged a hat-trick.
His great form made him become a mainstay in that Chelsea side after January as he became the team’s secondary ball carrier after a certain Eden Hazard. RLC’s strengths of having a unique centre of gravity along with being great at holding on onto the ball made him a very useful asset.
That season, Ruben went from strength to strength as he was also contributing in with vital goals, like the opener in the Europa League semi-final.
It seemed like Cobhams prodigal son was finally becoming the player from the academy everyone expected him to be. A symbol of change for the pathway form academy to first team, something that happens more often now with the London based club.
A huge hurdle
After such a great season, it seemed like the Europa League final that Chelsea reached thanks to Ruben’s contributions would have been the icing on the cake for him and the club. That game appeared as though it was going to be the game that confirms him to be the present and the future of the club.
Unfortunately for him and the club, two weeks prior to the Europa League final, Chelsea had organised a post-season friendly. Head coach Sarri naturally was not happy about this, more so because the ownership forced him to play all the starters into this game.
This game saw what the Chelsea manager feared the most happen: he lost one of his most important players. Due to the poor playing surface, during the game Loftus-Cheek ruptured his Achilles tendon.
This injury led him to miss out on the biggest game of his career, succumbing to an injury whereby even walking again with ease is something that is an obstacle for your average person. This injury turned his world upside down.
Chelsea still went on to win the Europa League final, but Ruben was out for nine months. He was back to square one if not worse, as this is an injury that it is very hard to come back from for any person or athlete.
He had to learn how to walk again, quite literally. Despite this, he put the work in and showcased his strong mentality to overcome this hurdle as he managed to recover from it, however upon his return it was clear he was not at the same level as before.
He decided to get another loan move, this time at Fulham, hoping for it to have a similar impact as to the one he had at Crystal Palace. Unfortunately, he did not quite hit the same levels, but it was more of a matter of getting into his paces and gaining playtime again, which he did.
Unfortunately for Ruben, it seemed like it was all about to go downhill from there and that such a severe injury had ended any hope of him having a career as a high-level performing midfielder as he once was expected to be.
Second wind
Despite this, Loftus-Cheek did not accept defeat and kept pushing forward, showcasing how strong his character and mentality is.
Under Thomas Tuchel he was given another lifeline. He was getting a few games here and there, and this eventually led him to become a solid rotation option.
He was also getting there in terms of the quality of his performance and eventually with perseverance and hard work, little glimpse of the old RLC was seen again as people saw him gliding past opposition players again with ease.
Since then, he has been a solid squad player but someone who never fulfilled the huge potential he was once seen with by many. That Achilles injury set back his career by two or three years and now at the age of 27, it may be a bit late for him to add facets to his game to make him an elite midfielder as he was once tipped to be.
A change of scenery due to this reason can do him good and if there is one thing that Loftus-Cheek does not lack is perseverance so hopefully he comes with the right mindset to prove the doubters wrong once again and maybe fulfil what he was once destined to in the red and black colours.
Loftus-Cheek brings with him a baggage of being an underachiever due to a serious injury but what he does bring to the table that this Milan team needs is strong mentality, and he is a great ball carrier, someone that is physical too in the middle of the park.
This is something that is needed at the club and in a midfield that needs rebuilding after Sandro Tonali’s exit. He can be a great squad player as that is what most Milan fans will expect of him, but at the same time he can still reach the heights he once was expected to.
Sometimes a change in scenery is all that a player needs, as Fikayo Tomori might have told him. Loftus-Cheek has been open to a move to Milan ever since he played at the San Siro in the UCL so he for sure has realised what it means to play for a club as big as this.
He is a good playerI just worry that Milan Lab is going to finally end his career.
Or the San Siro pitch….
Ha true.
Vranckx 2.0?
No, Vranckx could actually stay fit lol.
This shows how low Milan have sunk. What an absolute disgrace these last few weeks have been. Let’s see how many more cheap/overrated/useless players the new owners can get in and watch them embarrass the badge when the season unfolds
This shows how low Milan have sunk. What an absolute disgrace these last few weeks have been. Let’s see how many more cheap/overrated/useless players the new owners can get in and watch them embarrass the badge when the season unfolds.
I feel you fellow fan, I am as well devastated seeing how they’re butchering this club and the project that was in place.
It feels like a bad dream !
Already moved on to another team after being a Milan fan of 30+ years
Just can’t stand what’s happening
Moved on to another team but still stay on sempre milan site,read the news and comment. This is not airport, you dont need to announcing your departure to support another club
like literally nothing happend…
the drama queens on here, urgh
This was Maldini’s signing you big ol dummy.
grateful for all the articles that come up here.
unfortunately not everyone understands what silly season means.
and unfortunately half don’t seem to be milan supporters but instead throw crap at anything not named your mother.
good job and keep it up!
anyone who thinks we should buy our way to success can change their underwear before you pee again and change team
“Sandro Tonali’s agent admits it was ‘not easy at the start to explain the project’ at Newcastle United, but he understood the sale was best for Milan too.”
Go f*ck yourselves you murican tards. Making this club a cheap fast food franchise. All the wrong moves.