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Chelsea: Impossible to keep Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley happy

By Carlos Amanya

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 08: Ross Barkley of Chelsea and Tino Anjorin during the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Everton FC at Stamford Bridge on March 8, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by James Williamson - AMA/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 08: Ross Barkley of Chelsea and Tino Anjorin during the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Everton FC at Stamford Bridge on March 8, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by James Williamson - AMA/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 23: Ross Barkley of Chelsea celebrates after scoring his sides third goal during the Carabao Cup third round match between Chelsea and Barnsley at Stamford Bridge on September 23, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around United Kingdom remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Alastair Grant – Pool/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 23: Ross Barkley of Chelsea celebrates after scoring his sides third goal during the Carabao Cup third round match between Chelsea and Barnsley at Stamford Bridge on September 23, 2020 in London, England. Football Stadiums around United Kingdom remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in fixtures being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Alastair Grant – Pool/Getty Images) /

Last season

Lampard decided that both players needed a spell away from the club: Loftus-Cheek, to regain his form and Match fitness, while Barkley wanted to go to a club that guaranteed him minutes as he hoped to play for England in the recently concluded EURO 2020. Barkley started bright, scoring in Aston Villa’s 7-2 win against Liverpool, while Loftus-Cheek initially started on the bench. Barkley’s rising star started to dim in the second part of the season with the likes of John McGinn, Morgan Sanson, and Jacob Ramsey being picked ahead of him even when club talisman Jack Grealish was out injured. On the other hand, Loftus-Cheek became a constant in a somewhat miserable Fulham team but failed to stand out.

As the Premier League season came to an end, Loftus-Cheek had amassed 24 appearances, scoring six times and assisting twice, while Barkley had three goals and a solitary assist in 26 games. This was despite Barkley attempting eleven more shots than Loftus-Cheek’s 28. This gave Loftus-Cheek a neat 164 minutes per goal ratio, while Barkley’s stood at a goal every 526 minutes. Ross managed 753 passes to Ruben’s 610 but considering that he played 983 minutes to Barkley’s 1576, the pendulum seems to swing in the academy player’s favor.

As the new season approaches, Billy Gilmour has been loaned out to Norwich to get some much-needed game time, while the two discussed players are both participating in pre-season under Tuchel. The German tactician indicated he likes Loftus-Cheek’s Michael Ballack-like profile and would judge him after seeing him play. Barkley has also been impressive during this pre-season.

The sad truth is that we cannot keep both of them satisfied in Chelsea blue for the coming season. Our 3-4-2-1 formation allows little room for attacking midfielders. Mount’s aggressiveness on and off the ball has been key to our way of play. Loftus-Cheek and even more so, Barkley, is not this type of player. And with Kante in the team, having a player that is too attacking next to him in central midfield may not be the best idea. Kante often leads the press on the opponent’s left-back and left central midfielder, with Jorginho or Kovacic dropping in to cover the space he leaves. While neither is a pure defensive midfielder, both have proven to be defensively sound enough to complement the tiny Frenchman.

Werner, Mount, Havertz, Ziyech, and Hudson-Odoi are all in the mix for the two positions behind the striker. Supposing none of these players leave, they all have Tuchel’s trust, as they have delivered when called upon. Last season, we had a slight problem when Kovacic was injured, as Tuchel had to overplay Kante and Jorginho. Seeing as to how he stuck Mount at the midfield two sometimes, an argument can be made for Loftus-Cheek to stay and provide cover in that position.

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There is also the matter of transfer fees we could get selling the two. Their values have steeply declined in the last season. I don’t think anyone would offer £ 30M for either player as things stand. Both players can still turn the tide and deliver quality performances, but they need to play to do so. Our overcrowded central midfield doesn’t help with the matter either. Come what may, Chelsea will have to loan or sell one of the two. My money is on Barkley, yours?

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