Maurizio Sarri took the first plausible opportunity to select Mateo Kovacic over Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Loftus-Cheek must choose between his desire to be a Blue and his desire to be a Premier League starter.
Maurizio Sarri stayed true to himself with his second Premier League starting XI: he kept it the same as the previous week. This was defensible up front. Eden Hazard is still not fully recovered and ready after the World Cup, and Sarri is understandably risk averse regarding injury vulnerability. The decision was less so on defence, as Sarri apparently wanted one more game just to verify that David Luiz is, in fact, David Luiz.
Sarri did change his substitutes, though, and in this he stayed sadly true to type. Despite Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s worthy if unspectacular performance off the bench against Huddersfield, Sarri tabbed Mateo Kovacic for the game against Arsenal. And since Sarri prefers to carry two wingers instead of two midfielders among his subs, Loftus-Cheek was out of the squad.
Chelsea signed Mateo Kovacic on loan two days before the opening game. Starting a goalkeeper on such short notice is one thing, but it would be beyond foolish to start a midfielder. However, if Chelsea had dispensed with Thibaut Courtois earlier – maybe just by a few days – Kovacic could have been in the squad over Loftus-Cheek from the season’s opening whistle.
Maurizio Sarri will almost always favour age and experience, even prioritizing those attributes over recent form. Kovacic has an absurd advantage over Loftus-Cheek in top tier playing time. Kovacic also has Real Madrid and Inter Milan in his pedigree, while Loftus-Cheek “merely” has Chelsea FC and Crystal Palace.
Kovacic has 11,633 minutes over 197 first-team appearances for Real Madrid, Inter and Dinamo Zagreb. Nearly 9,000 of those minutes are with Real and Inter. By contrast, Loftus-Cheek has 2,464 minutes in 47 appearances between Chelsea and Crystal Palace. On both measures, Kovacic has a four- to five-fold advantage.
Loftus-Cheek, though, has had a better last year for club and country. The Englishman played twice as many club minutes than Kovacic, starting 21 games for Crystal Palace. Kovacic started 10 and came off the bench for 11 at Real Madrid, leading to his discontent and desire for a move. Loftus-Cheek also had a bigger role at the World Cup. He started three games and accumulated 274 minutes, while Kovacic started once and played the rest of his 183 minutes off the bench.
As we have written about extensively, Maurizio Sarri has a very clear preference for experience over youth or potential. He has shown little interest in developing a young player into the first-team since Elseid Hysaj was a teenager. Loftus-Cheek is well beyond his teenage years, but the combination of injuries and The Chelsea Way have left him with a teenager’s level of first-team experience.
Making the matter worse for Loftus-Cheek is Kovacic – unlike Sarri’s other experience-heavy starters David Luiz and Willian – is very good. Kovacic made three tackles in 31 minutes against Arsenal – the same amount N’Golo Kante, Cesar Azpilicueta and Pedro each made over 90 minutes. Kovacic also completed 43 passes, only three fewer than the man he replaced, who played twice as long. That man was Ross Barkley, and Kovacic may replace Barkley in the starting XI as early as this weekend.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek admirably committed himself to fighting Ross Barkley for the third midfielder slot in the starting XI. As things stand now, Barkley will be fighting Mateo Kovacic to reclaim the starting spot and Loftus-Cheek will be fighting Barkley to be the top substitute. And this is all before Cesc Fabregas returns to the lineup for whatever Maurizio Sarri has in store for him.
Mateo Kovacic substantially changed the equation for Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley were well-matched competitors for the starting spot. Regardless of who won the place in the starting XI, both would benefit from the challenge. The fight for third midfielder was an even one-on-one battle.
Now with Kovacic, there is a clear hierarchy with the Croat on top. Simply on paper, Kovacic would defeat the Englishmen for Maurizio Sarri’s favour any day of the week. Kovacic’s debut performance reinforced his standing.
Battling for the Premier League starting XI, with substitute appearances and starting in the cups and Europa League as consolation prize, was a worthy enough goal for Loftus-Cheek to stay at Chelsea this season. Now he will be battling for those secondary goals, with no such fall-back. He needs to be a consistent starter, both for his career development and his personal and professional satisfaction.
The whole reason he is in this situation is because Chelsea did so little with him in the three years since his debut. He can scarcely afford to dig this hole any deeper. He has potential suitors in the Premier League and Bundesliga. The question is no longer if he or should he, but with whom.