Sky Sports pundits reckon teenage debutant is one to watch
Thursday 11 December 2014 09:12, UK
Can Ruben Loftus-Cheek become a regular for Chelsea and England? The Sky Sports pundits discuss...
The 18-year-old was handed a debut in the last eight minutes of Chelsea’s 3-1 Champions League group game at Stamford Bridge against Sporting Lisbon and he produced a 100 per cent passing accuracy in that short time.
Chelsea sealed victory through a Cesc Fabregas penalty and goals from Andre Schurrle and John Obi Mikel but, having qualified for the knockout stages before defeating Sporting, the introduction of talented teenager Loftus-Cheek offered an insight to the future.
And Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville says he has a "good chance" of becoming an England player one day.
“The right thing to do is to bring him in slowly so he’s comfortable,” he said. “You don’t want the situation where you’re substituting the kid off because he can’t handle it.
“Jose Mourinho’s responsibility is to Chelsea Football Club but if he can bring young players through, and particularly English ones, it’s a huge responsibility for the national team. If they get in the Chelsea team you know full-well there’s a good chance he’ll play for England if he plays for Chelsea.”
Fellow Sky Sports expert Graeme Souness agreed that Loftus-Cheek looked the part, even before he took the field for his cameo appearance.
“The first thing that strikes you about him is his physique, he looks like a real athlete, which in the modern game is a tremendous asset to have,” Souness said.
“You can see he’s got a change of pace and passes it properly, all the things you’d expect from a player who’s talked about with such regard.”
Chelsea have topped Group G, scoring 17 goals which is more than any other team in the Champions League so far.
And following their good start to the domestic season, Neville is backing Mourinho’s men to fly the flag for the Premier League in the European knockout stages.
“No-one will want to play Chelsea,” he said. “They’re the one team from the Premier League – and I think we’ve struggled for quality this season below Chelsea.
"Southampton and West Ham have exceeded in terms of what they’ve done but Chelsea have done really well, they look like a team that can handle European competition with their power and strength. The goalkeeper, the centre-backs, they’ve got threats up front.
“They’re the one team, from our point of view in England, who can go the furthest in the Champions League.”
