Loftus-Cheek has voiced he really doesn’t want to leave Chelsea as he is determined to earn a starting spot on the blues. Chelsea already has an outstanding midfield with Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic, among others. The best thing for Loftus-Cheek would be to go to the Bundesliga and develop for a year.
Schalke have shown interest in the 22-year old Chelsea midfielder, making it clear they would like to make a move for Loftus-Cheek as the replacement for German international Max Meyer, who is now with Crystal Palace.
This is an opportunity for Loftus-Cheek to be in a starting lineup on a consistent basis and be a presence in the midfield.
Best move for his development
Chelsea is unlikely to give up Loftus-Cheek, even though he did not feature in the starting XI over the weekend against Huddersfield. But if you want to think about the development of the midfielder, this could be the best move.
Realistically he isn’t going to see a lot of playing time with Chelsea in Maurizio Sarri’s 4-3-3 formation. Like I mentioned above, they have way too many quality players that will play before Loftus-Cheek.
Like he did on Saturday, Loftus-Cheek could end up being a guy who comes in off the bench on a weekly basis and logs 20 to 30 minutes in the second half.
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If they would loan him off to Schalke though, he would be playing full matches and be logging a ton of playing time that would really help him move forward in his growth. Last year with Crystal Palace he saw the pitch quite frequently and had a wonderful season.
Loftus-Cheek has been with Chelsea since 2014 and has only made 24 appearances in that span. He has made it clear that he does want to stay with Chelsea and work hard to break into the starting eleven, but it’s probably not going to happen this year.
They added two more outstanding midfielders in Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic and bench boss Maurizio Sarri already has his ideas on how he’ll use these two players. Ross Barkley is also an option and did start on the left flank before Loftus-Cheek came in to replace him late in the second half in the Premier League opener for the blues.
It doesn’t even have to be Schalke, it could be any team. They have been the main one to show interest in Loftus-Cheek but honestly, it doesn’t really matter what team he goes to, all he needs is some consistent playing time.
There are so many players to compete with for playing time, which isn’t a problem. He clearly likes the competition and wants to earn his spot. But he has been with Chelsea for almost four years now and hasn’t seen the field much.
His abilities are definitely there, evident by his outstanding speed and presence on the flank where he usually plays. Loftus-Cheek has all the skill to be in the starting lineup with the Blues, but I just think that Sarri has a group of players in mind to use in the midfield and it doesn’t look like the 22-year old is in those plans. Off the bench looks to be the best case scenario for Loftus-Cheek this season if he does stay with Chelsea.
Honestly, I hope he does somehow break into the starting XI if he decides to stay at Stamford Bridge. He deserves it because he is a quality player. Despite that, I do believe that a season loan to Schalke would be a logical decision for Loftus-Cheek even though he seems to be against it.
We’ll see if he could find some more playing time this weekend against Arsenal. Chelsea has until the end of August to loan off players to other clubs in Europe.