One of the stand-out performers for AC Milan so far this season has been Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and we are seeing a ‘new’ version of him.
As Quotidiano Sportivo (via PianetaMilan) write this morning, Loftus-Cheek is ‘off to a flying start’ in his third season at Milan, having begun the campaign under a different coach again (four in total).
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He is a starter for Massimiliano Allegri’s new Milan, having started in the Coppa Italia against Bari and then in Serie A against Cremonese and Lecce, even scoring against the Salento side. His excellent performances so far earned Loftus-Cheek a return to the England squad after a seven-year absence.
Ruben on the rise
The last time that Loftus-Cheek was called up by his country was on 15 November 2018, in a 3-0 win against Christian Pulisic’s United States in London. Thomas Tuchel has summoned him after Adam Wharton’s injury, and he could play against Strahinja Pavlovic’s Serbia tomorrow.
Loftus-Cheek is raring to go, given that – due to injuries – he missed a staggering 37 games in the last two years at Milan. He had appendicitis (which needed surgery), hamstring problems and adductor problems.
He performed very well in the 2023-24 season under Stefano Pioli (10 goals in 40 games. However, he was almost always sidelined in the last season under Paulo Fonseca first and then Sérgio Conceição, and when he did play he struggled.
Allegri, upon his arrival at Milan, described him as ‘an important player’. He urged him – like his departmental colleague Youssouf Fofana – to chip in with goals. In fact, the coach expects the pair score at least 15 goals between them this season.
RLC got off to a good start in Lecce, and Tuchel noticed, stating in a press conference: “He’s full of qualities, and sometimes I don’t think he’s aware of how good he is.” With this in mind, everything is in place to produce a top-notch season.
We’ll wait for the injury report for the season.
Any bets? 🤭
Real Milanista right there
Nah, it’s called a reasonable guess. Player has been injured every year before he came here and during his time here. A set of small injuries have always hampered his progress. What makes you think he’ll be injury free this year all of a sudden, based on the information you already know? He ofc can, but that likelihood is small.
Yes, but what is the motivation behind the need to come and leave a negative comment anytime there is a positive article about RLC?
If he’s doing well and helping the team that should be a good thing, not hoping he gets hurt again so you can say I told you so. It’s such an odd group of “fans” on here. RLC scored the game winner last match and the comment section was just filled with negative comments against him. Makes you question the motivation of these people. Clearly it’s not winning.
This ^^
invisible in big games, inconsistent & injury prone.
should been sold b4 Tiji
he missed a staggering 37 games in the last two years at Milan. He had appendicitis (which needed surgery), hamstring problems and adductor problems…..🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️????
Why y’all getting upset with pure facts? Get mad at the author too why come after me alone lol 😅
Isn’t he injured every season in some form or the other? Am I missing something here? All I was saying was just wait…..besides it wasn’t even that mean spirited. Just use caution before you board that hype train, but here you’re trying to pre-empt an I told you so because you know fully well the likelihood of it happening is quite high, my precise point…so it means you have to agree with my point and that can’t happen, am I right Mk? Or is it K? 😏
As an aside: Maybe it’s not me that’s being negative but maybe it’s you because you only internalize the (legit) negative criticism and ignore all the positive comments I’ve said about the player. I’ve said three times about the same player “hoping he builds from this” referring to the goal he scored against Lecce….. where’s that part of your analysis? Oh wait, it doesn’t fit the narrative and you want to paint pictures here of me and look at your buddies trying to follow suit, blindly I’ve also said RLC should be dominating Serie A, that he should be bulldozing his way through midfields, that he has good characteristics all coaches like and that he can be good under Max, but as always caution his reliability issues. Where’s that context in your write up?
And since when is being reasoned a problem ?
@Mk, So is he or is he not more likely than not to get injured this season given his injury record, very simple question, yes or no?
You sound like a complete clown. RLC is playing well and deserves the credit he is getting. It seems you hate to give certain players credit, but at least we know it has nothing to do with football.
Yes he did reasonably well versus the mighty Lecce and yes he should use that as a platform to do better against other teams as well as big teams more consistently. Not once every 5 games.
As I’ve said above, I’ve said he should build
on his performance, should be dominating Serie A and that he has features all coaches love to have in a player. So much for not giving the player credit eh? Don’t follow how other users paint other users on this site.
Btw in the likelihood that he gets injured this season where do I go to collect the $?
(And if you don’t understand that statement then I can’t help.you)
Please IKWYDLS. You are so transparent in your hate. The article was a positive one about RLC which for some reason makes you feel the need to leave a negative comment about him. And it’s the same every time.
It’s either he’s terrible, he’s useless, then when he does well it’s Just wait until he gets hurt again. Absolutely no need for it.
TBH I really dont get the all the media fuss about this player. He has always been a sub – his quality will not go beyond what he already is. Yes, he is useful but, if it was up to me, I would have sold him. The final touch is just not there when he goes forward… and we cant just depend on him in the middle – really hope Rabiot takes that spot and Jashari or Ricci play alongside modric.
“He performed very well in the 2023-24 season under Stefano Pioli (10 goals in 40 games)”
That’s a proof that stats don’t tell everything. He had some good games, especially against PSG, but was mostly invisible and very inconsistent, therefore absolutely not a reliable player. He was targeted to be a bench player by the previous management and rightly so.
Stand out performers?
We’ve played only 3 games so far this season.
Calma.
Who cares about stats? convenient that you ignore his good stats, but quick to jump on any that are negative right?
Why don’t you check his performances? If you have the only conclusion you will reach, is that he is playing very well. What more do you want from him?
@ IKWYDLS so you make a silly comment at me then you disable the response…How cowardly. throwing rocks and running like a little boy. Just as I thought, what a coward.
Look at this ****, how can I disable your response? Am I the admin for the site? No!
The comments section only runs about 3 or 4 consecutive nodes (replies) in from an original post. After that the reply feature disables automatically, presumably to prevent run ons. But based on how your comments are on the site, I figured you don’t understand how these things work too.
“throwing rocks and running like a little boy. Just as I thought, what a coward.” Geez fckn Christ ! Smh 🤦♂️
I don’t even know why I even responded tbh
You know you can also just reply under one of my other comments that had the reply button 🙄🤦♂️😂😂😂
Matter of fact just reply here and save yourself from having to use your brain cell.