It’s often said that the easiest thing to do in sport is gain a label, while the hardest thing to do is shirk it off. Being labelled as injury prone can be a terrible thing for a footballer.
Even if it’s not necessarily true, it will impact you when it comes to negotiating contracts and managers might be less inclined to trust you for the big occasion if they think you might get injured and force an early sub.
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Ruben Loftus Cheek has had his fair share of injuries at Chelsea. He’s often struggled to force his way into the team, so this season under Frank Lampard should’ve been perfect for him. Lots of young players have been given chances but injuries have kept him on the sidelines.
Football.London issued a report suggesting that it was thought he was closing in on a return to first team action, but Frank Lampard has given a further update and it’s not good news.
They report that Lampard has said he’s no closer to returning, which directly contradicts any claims that he was close to a return. More worryingly, it seems that there still isn’t a timescale for when he might be expected to return.
He hasn’t featured this season and this indicates that he won’t be making any appearances soon. A lot may depend on what Chelsea do in the transfer window and if they are allowed to make signings, but if they add another midfielder in January then Loftus Cheek might find it hard to break through even when he does return to fitness.