Ruben Loftus-Cheek - Footballing Career - A Thread

Ruben, born 23rd January 1996, joined Chelsea at the age of 8.

Ruben started to work his way through the academy and in the 2011-12 season, he was starting to impress. However, his good form was halted by a hip injury which saw him out till the end of the season.

The 2012-13 season was a more successful one for him. Making 18 appearances for the under-18 squad and a further nine for the under-21's.

His performances weren't going unnoticed, and as a reward, he travelled with the first-team to face Manchester City in May 2013.

Ruben kept on improving and in the 2013-14 season, he helped Chelsea win the FA Youth Cup.

Not only that, but he was a regular starter in the under-21's, giving them a hand winning the under-21 Premier League.

The next season was somewhat of a breakthrough for Loftus-Cheek, when making his senior debut for the club, replacing Spaniard @cesc4official in the UEFA Champions League.

The rewards kept on coming. Ruben made his debut in the Premier League on the 31st January 2015 in a 1-1 draw against Manchester City. Albeit for a minute or two!

A few days later on the 3rd February, Jose Mourinho promoted Ruben to the first-team squad.

After winning the 2014-15 UEFA Youth League, Loftus-Cheek made his first start in the Premier League. This coming against Liverpool.

In 60 minutes of playing, Ruben recorded a pass rate of 100%.

Ruben made just 3 appearances for the first team, but manager Jose Mourinho insisted he would be rewarded with a Premier League medal.

10th January 2016, a special day for Ruben, as this was the day he scored his first senior Chelsea goal. Chelsea faced Scunthorpe United in the FA Cup, and on the 68th minute, Ruben nicely tucked away his first goal. Helping Chelsea win 2-0.

Excluding Terry, he became the first player to have been at Chelsea since before the age of 15 and score for them since Carlton Cole 10 years and 3 days earlier.

Lofts-Cheek signed a new deal with Chelsea on the 29th February 2016, keeping him at the club for five more years.

Chelsea faced Aston Villa. Why is this important? As Ruben scored his first league goal in a comfortable 4-0 win.

He made a total of 17 appearances, with three goals and three assists.

Antonio Conte was the newly appointed manager and this saw Ruben play in a different role in pre-season. Loftus-Cheek was deployed as a striker, playing alongside Diego Costa during pre-season.

In July 2016, Conte describe Ruben as a player who has "the right characteristics to play in this position (striker). He is young with great potential. I like him a lot"

However, the move in position was never acted upon and on the 23rd August, Ruben made his first appearance of the season against Bristol Rovers in the EFL Cup, As a midfielder.

The game ended in a 3-2 for the blues. Perhaps closer than what it should've been.

Ruben assisted the third and winning goal which was scored by @mbatshuayi.

He made 11 appearances throughout the season.

Ruben made his first loan move in the 2017-18 season, moving to Premier League side Crystal Palace on a season-long loan.

There was no wait for Ruben to make his debut as he started their first game of the season again Huddersfield Town. A bitter-sweet day as Palace lost 3-0.

In the next eight games, Ruben would only manage appear in four, missing out on the rest due to muscle related injuries.

On 25 November 2017, Loftus-Cheek scored his first goal for the London side in a 2–1 victory over Stoke City.

Ruben played 25 times for the Eagles, scoring two and assisting five. Not to mention some fantastic performances that didn't result in either a goal or assist.

Unfortunately he missed 16 games due to injury.

Ruben returned to Chelsea for the 2018-19 season under Sarri and proceeded to be a integral part of the time.

He made his first appearance of the season in the opener against Huddersfield, coming on in the second-half, playing 22 minutes.

He scored his first in the league against Burnley in a 4-0 win, whilst just days before, he scored a hat-rick against BATE Borisov in the Europa League.

He scored in back-to-back league games in December, against Fulham in a 2–0 home win and Wolverhampton Wanderers in a 2–1 away loss.

In Chelsea's route to the Europa League final, he scored 3 and assisted 4. Unfortunately, he missed the final due to a torn achilles, which he suffered in a charity match against New England Revolution.

He played 40 games, scored 10 and assisted 5 in the season.

Ruben is still currently nursing his injury but on the 6th July 2019, Loftus-Cheek agreed a new five-year contract with Chelsea, running until 2024.

@rubey_lcheek If you read this, I hope your recovery is going to plan and we see you back on the pitch as soon as normality is back! We miss you!

@rubey_lcheek