Cobham Kids: Continued

Lets pay some attention to how good Cobham is just for a little while...

Good Evening Ladies and Gents,

Today I am continuing a series that I have been writing for a few weeks now, I am looking back and in to the future on how our academy creates excellent professional footballers, whether that is for Chelsea or anyone else.

Lets please not use the comments to slate the board or anything about the young signings we have made over the last couple of years and just appreciate Cobham for being Cobham.

So todays ‘Cobham Kid’ in questions is none other than “The Cobham Ballack” du du du du its Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Now I know this is the one that Si has been waiting for and the one I have been most excited to relive. We both have a lot of love for this man, in fact I am sat here in my AC Milan RLC shirt whilst writing this.

Before we get into his here and now, lets go all the way back to when he was 8 years old, in 2004, when his Chelsea Academy journey began, his technical ability was always described as natural and when he hit his early teens he hit a massive growth spirt.

In his first official year with the U16’s Ruben impressed as a 15 year old in the set up, having played here and there whilst in his early teens, midway through that first campaign he picked up a hip injury which kept him sidelined for a while, this was the start of his injury woes. He came back in time to feature in the 2012 FA Youth Cup final which Chelsea won 4-1.

He took a step up the following season (2012/13) and split his time between U18 and U21 football, playing 18 games for the U18 and 9 games for the U21’s. After a successful season in youth football he was rewarded with the oppurtunity to travel with the first team squad to play in a post season friendly v Man City in May 2013. He made his unofficial debut in the match at just 17 years old.

The following season (2013/14) Ruben was a mainstay in the U21 set up and had a brilliant season, helping Chelsea to win the FA Youth Cup & the U21 Premier League.

It was in the 2014/15 season where Ruben broke into the first team squad and was promoted from the academy into the first team dressing room, in December 2014 Ruben made his competitive senior debut coming on for Cesc Fabregas in the Champions League v Sporting Lisbon. He made his Premier League debut as a substitute in January 2015 replacing Oscar for the final few moments of a 1-1 draw with Manchester City.

He played for the U21 in the final of the UEFA Youth League in April 2015 with Chelsea winning that game 3-2 and subsequently winning the tournament. In May of the same year he made his full Chelsea debut in a 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, playing 60 minutes.

In the 2015/16 season he established himself in the Chelsea first team setup, mainly as a substitute, he made multiple sub appearances in the league and cups, in January 2016 Ruben got his first goal for his boyhood club scoring in the FA Cup v Scunthorpe, he earnt himself a new 5-year deal in February of 2016. Towards the end of the 2015-16 season Guus Hiddink trusted Ruben to start the final few games of the season, he scored in a 4-0 away win v Aston villa.

In 2016/17 Antonio Conte arrived and immediately took a shine to Ruben, initially deploying him as a striker in pre season, he stated that his build and physicality gave him strong attributes in that area of the field. His first start of the season came in the League Cup v Bristol Rovers, where he started as a forward alongside Michy Batshuay, who he set up for the 3rd goal, receiving a standing ovation when he departed after 82 minutes. He was used as a bit part squad player under Conte and started a lot of the cup games against lower tier opposition.

During the 2017/18 season RLC went on loan to Crystal Palace where he really made his name in the mens game, they treated him excellent, he played as a narrow winger on either side for them and flourished, so much so that he received his first international call up in November 2017, starting and getting man of the match in both games against Germany and Brazil, his loan form and performances on the international stage earnt him a place in Englands squad for the 2018 world cup.

When Ruben returned to Chelsea and from the World Cup there was a new man in charge and it was Maurizio Sarri, he didn’t initially warm to Ruben, using him as a bit part winger in his first couple of months or a starter in cup competitions, it was in October when Ruben sent Sarri a message scoring a hat-trick in the Europa League, from there on Ruben was predominantly used as a starter in the left of a midfield 3, as a no8, he scored 10 and assisted 5 in all competitions with a G/A every 130 minutes.

Unfortunately some idiots at the club decided to organise a post-season friendly BEFORE the Europa League Final and that is the night that effectively ruined Ruben’s Chelsea career, he suffered an awful Achilles injury which took him over a year to recover from. He made a couple of appearance upon the resumption of the premier league from the coronavirus pandemic at the end of the 2019/20 season.

He spent 2020/21 on loan with Fulham to regain fitness and play as many minutes as possible. He played 32 games in a pretty poor Fulham side that ultimately got relegated.

He returned to Chelsea under Thomas Tuchel and into a Champions League winning squad, he made 40 appearances during that season, Tuchel utilised Ruben’s football abilites by featuring him at Centre Midfield, as part of a pivot, an attacking midfielder, a Right Wing-Back and even a Centre Back for one game.

in the 2022/23 season Ruben made his last 33 of 155 appearances for the club, again featuring in multiple positions whilst still performing well, he sadly left the club with a heartfelt goodbye (pictured above) at the end of the 2023 season, leaving for Milan and Italy.

Ruben has enjoyed an excellent first season in Milan, featuring 36 times, scoring 10 goals and getting 2 assists so far. I continue to watch him play as much as I can and still thoroughly enjoy see him pick the ball up and dribble through multiple players whilst shrugging off defenders.

I hope you all enjoyed this.

Thanks for reading.

Luke Rushbrook