Ruben Loftus-Cheek looks to be finally making good on his potential at AC Milan. He has scored 6 goals already in 2024 for the Rossoneri.
He’s been given a regular spot in the team in a preferred central role and is repaying the faith of Stefano Pioli.
Happier times in Milan
Against Monza on Sunday, he had the pace to run with the ball and transition the play forward, from defensive quarters.
At Chelsea, he sometimes looked lost on the pitch; the play passing him by and lacking the stability of a defined position.
His performances at Milan bear witness to an evolution of his positional discipline. Loftus-Cheek runs the inside right channel with a new sense of rigidity; no longer is he an unseated horse at the races, veering off without any directional purpose.
He also shows a higher footballing IQ. When he struggled to find space and opportunity by holding a high position against Monza, he dropped short. When the pass to him went awry, he regrouped and dropped of the shoulder of his defender by turning them and finding himself goal-side, in acres of space.
As for his goals in 2024, it’s all a case of timing his runs. He arrives into the box at the optimum attacking moment. Being on the scene when the ball drops into a perfect position, and then he pounces!
Chelsea legend, Gianfranco Zola has labeled Loftus-Cheek ‘a truly top player’ this season and TNT Sports pundit, Owen Hargreaves, purred at his performance against Rennes in the Europa league, lathering on the superlatives of how he was ‘such a talented guy.’
Perhaps an argument can be made that he’s been freed from the shackles of an unsettling phase of the journey for Chelsea FC.
In stark contrast to the malaise in West London, Milan are thriving. Creeping up on a stuttering Juve side, who currently reside in second place on the Seria A table, the Rossoneri have been putting together some strong performances on a consistent basis – aside from Sunday’s game at Monza.
Loftus-Cheek may be standing out, in part, because of the form and quality of Milan compared to large swathes of his time at Chelsea, since Antonio Conte’s departure.
Ain’t no sunshine at Chelsea in the years just gone-by, no wonder he withered. His flower has bloomed amidst the sunny terrain of Milan Football Club.
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