Loftus-Cheek must make Fulham loan count to retain Chelsea future
At 12:36am on Tuesday, over an hour and a half after the transfer window had closed, Fulham confirmed the loan signing of Ruben Loftus-Cheek from Chelsea. It was the final completed deal of deadline day as Fulham brought in three new faces. Joachim Andersen and Tosin Adarabioyo both strengthen the defence, coming in from Lyon and Manchester City respectively, but it's the arrival of Loftus-Cheek that has caught the eye.
"With this manager, I think I can get back to my best football. That’s the main thing for me," Loftus-Cheek said upon his arrival at Craven Cottage. Fulham currently foot the Premier League after four matches, losing all four and shipping 11 goals in the process; only West Brom (13) have conceded more. At the other end of the pitch, only Sheffield United (1) have scored fewer goals than the Cottagers (3) and Loftus-Cheek will be aware he can play a key role in improving both returns.
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And getting back to playing regular football is understandably high on the 24-year-old's agenda. Injuries have limited Loftus-Cheek to just eight Premier League appearances since the start of the 2019/20 season, but, when fit, the England international is a top performing midfielder that will aid Fulham in their push to avoid a repeat of the 2018/19 campaign, where they were relegated along with Huddersfield and Cardiff having conceded more goals (81) than any other side.
What's important for Loftus-Cheek and his need to settle to his new surroundings is that he has been in this position before. Having registered just six league appearances in 2016/17, totalling 31 minutes of action, Loftus-Cheek left west London for Crystal Palace. Both player and club benefited from the move to Selhurst Park as Palace ended the season 11th; only once has that finish been bettered when they finished 10th in 2014/15.
In that campain, Loftus-Cheek made 24 appearances, starting 21 of those. It was a welcome change to a lack of regular first team action at Stamford Bridge and an opportunity that the midfielder grabbed with both hands. Indeed, Loftus-Cheek's performances saw him secure a 2018 World Cup berth as he evidently did enough to force his way into Gareth Southgate's plans and start three games in Russia for England.
Palace improved as a result of his inclusion in the first team with their points per game rising from 0.88 to 1.38 when he started. Meanwhile, goals scored per game increased (1.43, up from 0.88), while goals conceded per game dropped (1.33, down from 1.59) in the matches Loftus-Cheek featured in from the off. Fulham will be hoping he can have the same effect.
It wasn't his work off the ball that saw him surge in Southgate's good books, but rather his ball carrying qualities that endeared him to Palace fans and allowed him to glide through the midfield. Indeed, of those to make 20 or more appearances in the 2017/18 Premier League season, Loftus-Cheeks return of 3.5 successful dribbles per 90 was more than any other central midfielder and the fifth best in England's top tier.
Yet while his ability to ghost past an opponent has rarely been called into question, the fact is Scott Parker will now have two impressive ball carriers at his disposal for the season. Fulham are averaging more successful dribbles per game (14.5) than any other team in England's top tier this term, while only Adama Traore (7.9) is averaging more dribbles per 90 than Loftus-Cheek's new Fulham teammate Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (5.5) of those to start at least one Premier League match in 2020/21.
Having options in central midfield to carry out a specific duty is no bad thing, and an increase in competition will ensure the pair don't drop their performance levels with the risk of being ousted from the XI. And considering Loftus-Cheek's chequered injury history, Parker will be thankful to have two midfielders at his disposal that are able to play a certain role in the middle of the park.
For Loftus-Cheek, though, it is the ideal position to be in. He immediately improves Parker's options in the middle of the park given his top-flight, European and international experience, and the role he played for Palace in 2017/18 cannot be overstated as a reference point for the possible impact he can make at Craven Cottage. Injuries are the only problem that have stopped the midfielder from pushing on and if he can remain fit and firing on all cylinders, then he'll be a huge asset for Fulham in the next 34 league games of the season.
Frank Lampard clearly has high hopes for Loftus-Cheek still even with Chelsea's summer splurge on attackers. He started the opening game of the season and while Loftus-Cheek failed to have the desired effect in the final third, lasting just 61 minutes and returning a WhoScored rating of 6.23 in the 3-1 win at Brighton, the Blues boss must be hoping the young midfielder can grasp the chance to build up form and fitness at Craven Cottage, just as he did with Palace three seasons ago.
Given their huge level of spending in the market, Loftus-Cheek needs to make this move work in order to retain a Chelsea future. Lampard's side may not be overstocked in central midfielders, but that can quickly change, so a repeat of his stint with Palace in 2017/18 would go a long way to ensuring he remains in the Blues' plans. One wouldn't go as far as to say that Loftus-Cheek's career is at a crossroads, yet a failure to maximise his time at Craven Cottage would increase of chances of the player needing to depart Stamford Bridge permanently in order to realy fulfill his immense potential.
"I think I can get back to my best football," is the key takeaway from Loftus-Cheeks comments following his move to Fulham. Injuries have very much dented his development at a key time in his career. That said, used in the correct way by Parker, and Fulham will see a repeat of his 2017/18 spell, which would not only vastly increase the Cottagers' chances of staying up, but boost Loftus-Cheek's chances of returning to Chelsea upon the culmination of his loan spell with the real possibility of finally establishing himself as a first team regular for the west London outfit.
