AC Milan midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek has revealed that he has been carrying an injury in recent months but he is starting to get back to his best level of fitness.
Speaking during an interview with Milan TV (via Milan News), the English central midfielder was incredibly complimentary of all the staff at the club who welcomed him after his arrival from Chelsea.
“When I arrived in the summer I met the staff and the coach, they are all wonderful people, they are all very generous people. It’s a pleasure to work with them. They always want to help me improve and help the team. This was my first impression of the staff, I was really happy to be in a good environment where you feel good and ready to work and improve,” Loftus-Cheek said.
It did not take long for him to be asked about Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s return to the club in an advisory role, and Loftus-Cheek talked about his stature at the club and what he demands of the players.
“He is a fantastic leader and he is an icon here at Milan. He has visited the team several times lately to observe and talk to us. He demands a lot, he wants to win. Even not taking the field and having a different role he wants the same thing: for us to win, which is the same thing we want. Having him close to the team again is fantastic.”
Loftus-Cheek seems to have settled into life at Milan very quickly and he clearly has a good level of chemistry with his new teammates, resulting in a positive first half-season in Serie A.
“Working together on the training pitch, having this connection between us and knowing how we like to play individually, building from there sometimes takes time but I felt from the start that we had a good connection in midfield. We work well together, everyone, regardless of who plays. Sometimes the feeling comes spontaneously, other times it takes time but from the beginning I felt that we had a good relationship, on and off the pitch.”
Perhaps the standout game of Loftus-Cheek’s time at Milan so far was the Champions League win over Paris Saint-Germain. He talked about how he loves the pressure that comes with games like that one.
“When there are important matches, and there is also a lot of pressure, those are the situations I love and it is in those moments that I give my best, they are the matches you want to play in as a footballer, the matches that matter and in which you want to make a difference. That energy, together with the crowd and the pressure of the match, push me to give my best. Sometimes there are matches as a footballer when you are in that mental state where everything works perfectly, it was one of those matches,” he explained.
Loftus-Cheek arrived at Milan in the same summer as Christian Pulisic, who also joined from Chelsea. The latter has made a great start to life in Italy and Loftus-Cheek was very complimentary of him.
“He’s a fantastic player, and the fans can see it now. He has always been a top top player, things didn’t work very well at Chelsea but you can see that here at Milan he has a new spirit, he is happy and is playing very well. This season he is fundamental for us, with his goals and his type of play down the right. He is a fantastic player, we all know it and we hope he continues to play like this and score,” he said.
His thoughts on Serie A
“It’s a very tough league, I understood that in my first six months here. The teams are all very strong tactically. It’s very difficult to get past your opponents, it’s like a game of chess. I feel that we need to work much more as a team in Italy, and this has allowed me to learn and improve a lot. I am very happy to play in Italy, I hope to improve further and learn even more about football in Italy. The coach and his staff are helping me a lot in this, together with the whole team. I am optimistic for the next six months.”
The season so far and an early injury
“We started very well, then we had a small decline, which is normal in football, there are ups and downs. I think that in the last few games we have started to play excellent football. I had been carrying an injury for some time and had to play with pain at times, which is normal for a footballer but I hope that now my condition continues to improve. As a team we are playing better, creating more scoring opportunities and scoring. I hope the team’s form continues to improve because we have a very good team but we need to focus on one game at a time. Let’s see where it takes us.”
