According to reports, Chelsea have begun to doubt whether youngster Ruben Loftus-Cheek is cut out to contribute in the club’s testing Premier League season.
Great things were expected of the 19-year-old ahead of the campaign, and he shone when given the opportunity by Jose Mourinho, notably when featuring for 77 minutes in the 4-0 demolition of Maccabi Tel-Aviv in the Champions League.
However, after featuring for 45 minutes against Aston Villa in the Premier League in October—he was hauled off at half time—Loftus-Cheek hasn’t featured again.
Earlier this month he was tipped for a loan move away from Stamford Bridge, and that now seems likelier than ever following explanation of why he has seemingly been jettisoned from Mourinho’s plans.
According to the Daily Mail, the teenager has been dropped due to “questions at the club about whether he has the stomach for the fight to be a fixture in the notoriously demanding Chelsea dressing room.”
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The report proceeds to state that the failings of Loftus-Cheek—and others—has convinced Mourinho to turn to tried and tested English Premier League players as he looks to construct a team less prone to the kind of self-implosion that has completely undermined the reigning champions’ current campaign.