Midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek wants more playing time at Chelsea and tonight he made a very strong case that he deserves it. In a 3-1 Europa League group stage win over BATE Borisov, Loftus-Cheek became the first Chelsea Academy product to net a hat trick for the Blues senior side since 1982.
The England international was making just his second start this season across all competitions. In the Premier League he’s seen just 33 minutes on the pitch. Despite all this talents and abilities, there is just no place for him in the Blues starting XI unfortunately.
Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri gave the following explanation when asked to assess the 22-year-old’s performance:
“He is a very good player, of course, but I have a little problem. I have to put 11 players in the starting XI, but I have 28 players! This little problem, I don’t know how to solve it. Ask to play 16, 17?”
“At the moment we have four midfielders for two positions. Three of them with the same characteristics. Only (N’Golo) Kante is a defensive midfielder. It’s very difficult for me to put in the starting XI two (primarily) offensive midfielders at the same time.”
“I hope to be able to do it in the future, but I need the cooperation of the players. I need an improvement in the defensive phase… In the future I may be able to put (Ross) Barkley and Loftus in the same starting XI.”
The three offensive midfielders the Italian is speaking of are Jorginho, Ross Barkley and Mateo Kovacic. Right now, the team simply has an embarrassment of riches at the position and there is only so many places to go around.
While it’s a problem almost all managers would enjoy having, it still presents some challenges for Sarri to overcome.
It’s an inevitability that some players will be relegated to the bench, and it’s on the manager to keep them happy and engaged despite their having to play a limited role. It’s possible that Ruben Loftus-Cheek will try hard to transfer away from Stamford Bridge in January, and if so who could blame him?
Right now it seems like RLC will only see the first team if one of the two following scenarios occur: either a.) Chelsea stays alive in multiple competitions very deep into the season, and the heavy workload forces Sarri to do a lot of squad rotation or b.) an injuryh crisis erupts in midfield.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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