Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek is set to leave on loan before the transfer window closes as Frank Lampard attempts to whittle down his bloated squad.
Loftus-Cheek started Chelsea s opening match at Brighton and Hove Albion but was hooked after an hour and left out of the squad for the games with Liverpool and West Brom.
The 24-year-old has struggled with injuries recently and finds himself down the list of Lampard s preferred midfield starters when everyone is fit.
Aston Villa, Southampton and West Ham have all been tipped to move for the 10-cap England international and Lampard may allow Loftus-Cheek to play elsewhere for the rest of the season.
I m very open with Ruben and we ve had a couple of conversations over the past week, Lampard said. He s fit as a fiddle and can play week in, week out.
He would have been playing games earlier if it wasn t for the lockdown and restart. But there s a possibility Ruben may go out to play games.
We hold him in high regard here but that could be a good option for him. If not he ll be competitive in this squad as well because of the quality he has.
Hopefully that will be a big plus for us. I m relaxed about it but I want to find the best path for Ruben and the best path for us. We ll see over the next week.
Touch, !
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC)
Loftus-Cheek impressed on loan with Crystal Palace in 2017-18 and was used regularly by Chelsea the following season, featuring 40 times in all competitions.
However, he has since suffered from a succession of injury issues and has struggled to make the most of his opportunities when they have arrived under Lampard.
He wants to play and the reality is we have a lot of competition in those areas, the Blues boss added.
Ruben is versatile and can play different roles in midfield so I was looking forward to working with him. He gives us something different in terms of his physicality, how he plays and how he receives the ball.
I also think there s a priority that he plays games – there s a delicate balance that we need to get right over the next week.
He s had a difficult time of it – his injury was a really bad one and he hasn t played as many minutes as he would have liked for different reasons.
Just before his injury he was playing well and contributing. We ll make the decision what s best for him and best for us.
Chelsea have made seven signings this year and Lampard acknowledged the importance of offloading some more players before next Monday s transfer deadline.
If it s right for the player and for us then it can be possible, he said. The squad is very big but the situation has to be right for us.
It s also an uncertain time in terms of what s going on at the moment. We re worried about players having to isolate so we have to be comfortable with the squad we have. But there is the possibility a few will move on.
