Relentless rehab in lockdown has Loftus-Cheek primed to make big Chelsea impact
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Over the weekend, training footage released by Chelsea included a clip of Ruben Loftus-Cheek accidentally kneeing a ball into his own face during a game of football tennis before falling to the ground in mock pain, to the amusement of himself and the team-mates around him.
It was a funny sight but also a refreshing one: when was the last time that arguably the unluckiest footballer of his generation had a moment of misfortune that he could laugh about?
To say it has been a long and arduous road back for Loftus-Cheek since that fateful day at Gillette Stadium in May 2019 — when the achilles tendon in his left leg snapped with such force that he thought a New England Revolution player had smashed into him from behind — is an understatement. Thirteen months and several setbacks later, his tortuous wait is finally nearing an end.
Loftus-Cheek has been heavily involved in Chelsea’s preparations for the Premier League restart, leading many at the club to believe he is in serious contention to feature against Aston Villa and Manchester City. He played the full 90 minutes of the inter-squad match arranged by Frank Lampard at Stamford Bridge, scoring once, then 45 minutes or more in both friendlies against Reading and QPR, where he found the net twice in a 7-1 win.
Starting on the left wing against QPR on Sunday, Loftus-Cheek impressed onlookers with the ease of his movement, linking well with team-mates and carrying a constant threat in the final third. There were no visible signs, either in his performance or the way he carried himself, of any lingering lack of trust in the body that has let him down so many times.
That is testament to the diligence and relentless dedication Loftus-Cheek has shown towards maintaining his physical conditioning during the COVID-19 shutdown. He was poised to make his first-team return for Chelsea as soon as February, if not quite ready to play big Premier League minutes, and only a late Antonio Rudiger own goal made Lampard think better of bringing him on as a late substitute against Tottenham at Stamford Bridge.
Global circumstances forced a further delay, but Loftus-Cheek chose to stay patient and think positive. He threw himself into the tailored home fitness programme that Chelsea gave him, working hard on the exercise bike and with the skipping rope in his garden. But he has also been pushing himself with gruelling drills designed by Jamie Lawrence, the former Bradford City and Jamaica winger who now works as a fitness coach.
“We’ve done a lot of explosive leg work on the glutes and quads,” Lawrence tells The Athletic. “I have him doing different types of explosive squats: sit on a bench for two seconds and jump up, or do one-leg squats, or Bulgarian squats (one foot behind on a bench, one foot on the floor) with a jump. Everything is explosive. Everything is game relevant. It’s game relevant because it improves power in the legs, which is big for challenging for headers, taking off, pushing people off the ball, getting from box to box.
“He was fit when everything shut down in March. Ruben has the best mentality of any young player I’ve trained. He is so strong mentally. He found it hard with the injury but I know he was so close to coming back. I said to him: ‘This could do you a favour, this could get you even better and fitter during this period’.”
Since the first-team squad were recalled to Cobham for phase-one training last month, sources have told The Athletic that Loftus-Cheek has played a full part in every session and every drill. Going through the same abbreviated pre-season camp as everyone else has helped him feel like a part of the team again, and should enable Lampard to consider him on more of an equal footing when he picks his midfield in the early weeks of the Premier League restart.
There should still be a note of caution. Midfield was already the most crowded area of Lampard’s squad before Billy Gilmour’s spectacular breakthrough prior to the shutdown further swelled the ranks. N’Golo Kante is also fit again. Unlike the men he will be competing against, Loftus-Cheek does not have the recent muscle memory of regular Premier League minutes.
He does, however, have an influential fan. Sources have told The Athletic that Lampard was in frequent contact with Loftus-Cheek while Derby County manager last season, encouraging the 24-year-old as he battled to win a place in Maurizio Sarri’s team — a battle he had won convincingly when injury struck two weeks before he was due to start the Europa League final.
“It would mean a lot to him and me to get him some time on the field now,” Lampard said of Loftus-Cheek prior to the shutdown. “It’s a lonely place, it’s a long time. He was in a very good run of form last year. He was playing really well and getting confidence but he hasn’t kicked a ball for me.
“With the ability he has got, he’s one of the most exciting midfielders in the Premier League, so we all want him back, and him more than anyone.”
Last season Loftus-Cheek became the first Chelsea midfielder since Oscar to reach double figures for goals across all competitions, with six in the Premier League and four in Europe. Lampard, the greatest goalscoring midfielder of his generation, has been desperately searching for that kind of final-third impact to support his attack ever since he took charge at Stamford Bridge.
Loftus-Cheek’s 5.68 touches in the opposition box per 90 minutes in the Premier League last season were bettered only by Olivier Giroud, Eden Hazard and Pedro among Chelsea’s squad, underlining his attacking intent. By way of context, Mason Mount leads Chelsea’s midfielders with 4.03 touches in the opposition box per 90 minutes in this season’s Premier League.
His rare ability to carry the ball upfield through opposition pressure also gave Chelsea a valuable way of turning defence into attack: he attempted (6.5) and completed (3.75) more dribbles per 90 minutes in the Premier League than anyone in the squad except for Hazard.
“Everyone needs someone who can pick up the ball and drive,” Lawrence adds. “You don’t get midfielders like that anymore. Kante cleans up, Mateo Kovacic is a good player but nobody is like Ruben in terms of what he brings — there isn’t anyone really like that in the league.”
England manager Gareth Southgate is every bit as enthralled by Loftus-Cheek’s unique blend of talents. Having featured him heavily in a thrilling 2018 World Cup campaign on the strengths of his performances on loan at Crystal Palace, he called the midfielder during the shutdown to stress that he remains firmly in his thoughts for the rescheduled Euro 2020, which will now take place next summer.
Lampard is giving nothing away about his own team selection in what remains of the Premier League season but will be without Pedro, who is unwilling to play again this season after signing a contract with Roma. William has also yet to sign an extension to his contract — which expires in less than two weeks — but is expected to play. Chelsea’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League remain too uncertain to allow Loftus-Cheek to feel his way back in matches that matter.
Wherever he is deployed on the pitch, Loftus-Cheek will need to hit the ground running and earn any minutes on the pitch. But after everything he has overcome in the past 13 months, this is the type of challenge for which he has been hoping.
