Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been given a warning of sorts by pundit Garth Crooks ahead of the summer transfer window.
The Blues ace has had some promising performances for the club in recent games, producing the goods against Watford to make Crooks’ team of the week on BBC Sport.
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Loftus-Cheek spent last season on loan at Crystal Palace and Crooks thinks he should have stayed there, though he was brought back to Stamford Bridge last summer.
Since then, however, the England international has had to make do with less playing time, despite impressing on most occasions that he’s broken into Maurizio Sarri’s side.
Chelsea clearly have a talented young player there and it’s not obvious why Sarri has so often opted for the ineffective loan signing Mateo Kovacic instead of him.
Crooks has made it pretty clear in his BBC Sport column that he now thinks Loftus-Cheek needs to think seriously about leaving CFC this summer after what’s gone on with him at the club this season.
‘This is a lad I thought was better off staying at Crystal Palace on loan, playing every week and continuing his international development as a consequence of playing regularly,’ Crooks said.
‘However the player decided to return to Chelsea – or more to the point, the club insisted he returned.
‘Immediately his game time dropped, he lost all the momentum he gained from his time at Palace and he struggled to be the star his performances suggest he might be.
‘It’s time Ruben Loftus-Cheek made some serious decisions about his career at Chelsea. The lad can play, as was clearly evident against Watford.’
One imagines the 23-year-old would not be short of offers if he did decide to quit the west London club, though they surely cannot afford to let him go due to their potential transfer ban this summer.
Loftus-Cheek could therefore hope that ban gives him the opportunities to play more as it prevents Chelsea looking to the transfer market as they so often do.