If you find anyone that expected Ruben Loftus-Cheek to return to Chelsea like this, buy them a drink and also be very skeptical. After his loan to Fulham, few if any would have expected Loftus-Cheek to play any role at Chelsea again. He simply didn’t look like the player he used to be and was at an age where the Blues couldn’t afford to wait for him to come back around. He was offered around in the summer without any takers and the club had to keep him around.
Thomas Tuchel, for his part, didn’t let that become a write off. Players like Loftus-Cheek, Malang Sarr, and Ross Barkley have all been given chances equal to those that Tuchel had planned to have. They have come in, trained well, and been allowed to show it on the pitch. But of those three, Loftus-Cheek’s saga is the most remarkable.
Loftus-Cheek’s injury in 2018/2019 wasn’t necessarily career ending but it was certainly career damaging. Upon his return, the most important thing of all was to get playing time. Fulham offered that, but the midfielder looked a shadow of himself throughout his time there. If nothing else, it looked as though he would need another year of playing often to find his feet. Something Chelsea would struggle to offer.
Chelsea has offered it though and, like any loaned player returning from a squad of lower quality players to a squad of higher quality players, Loftus-Cheek has improved. But he hasn’t improved just because the team around him has improved; he’s improved because Tuchel’s found a way to use him that minimizes the damage of the injury.
Loftus-Cheek has mostly returned to his old role of a “six” (being used very loosely here). Jose Mourinho and later Antonio Conte didn’t favor Loftus-Cheek that deep because he wasn’t a stellar defender. Maurizio Sarri used him more as an eight ahead of the play waiting for the ball before driving forward. The injury has prevented Loftus-Cheek from having the same ability to shuttle around that he once had. The solution? Play him deeper as part of the build up.
But that’s only half of it. Loftus-Cheek playing deeper is smart because it gives him more of the pitch to pass and run into. Loftus-Cheek doesn’t have the speed he once did, but he still has the ability to dribble and drive forward (almost always drawing a foul as he does so). Playing in the deepest role gives him the space to pull that off. Plus, he’s got the passing ability and press resistance to do the role well. The formation already minimizes the defensive duties for the midfielders (especially the deepest one) so Loftus-Cheek is left using almost exclusively what he is good at while getting to avoid what he’s bad at.
Loftus-Cheek, if he continues like he has, is almost a sure starter for Tuchel. His abilities to resist the press, making cutting passes, and drive forward are skills others in the midfield selection have but none of them possess them all at once. Loftus-Cheek makes 3-5-2 much more viable because he’s able to fill so many roles at once, opening other midfielders to be more aggressive in turn.
The English midfielder has come back from the depths to play a potentially vital role this season. It isn’t the Loftus-Cheek that once was but a newer, adapted version ready to contribute in ways others can’t.