Ruben Loftus-Cheek is desperate to get more gametime for Chelsea and is happy to play in an unorthodox attacking role for new manager Antonio Conte.
Nominally a midfielder, the 20-year-old played alongside Diego Costa in attack during Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat to Rapid Wien on Saturday.
“I am playing in a striker role at the moment, which is different,” he told Goal . “It was the first time I played there, so there is a lot to get used to about the role and how the boss wants us to play. It is exciting.”
Most of Loftus-Cheek’s senior appearances for Chelsea last season were in a deeper midfield role and he insists he is still happy to compete in that area of the pitch with Nemanja Matic, John Obi Mikel and new signing N’Golo Kante.
“I am just looking to play as much as I can,” he stressed. “I will ask the boss what he wants from me and try to do what he asks. I will be myself on the pitch and try and play how I play as that’s what has got me here.
“I think I can do a job in midfield as well, I told the boss I will play where he wants me to play. It is not a problem if he wants me to play as a striker, I will play there. At the moment I just want to be playing games.”
Loftus-Cheek could find himself linking up with Diego Costa more regularly as Conte experiments with a 4-2-4 formation that brought him success at his former club Bari.
Earlier this summer, Diego Costa was linked with a move back to his former club Atletico Madrid.
However, Chelsea are set to issue a second hands-off warning to Atletico by sending the Champions League runners-up a letter citing the striker is not for sale.
“Diego trains properly and does everything properly and that’s why he is so good and why he has been a good player for Chelsea,” Loftus-Cheek added at Chelsea's pre-season training camp in Austria.
“You learn a lot, and not just from Diego. You can pick and choose something from all the players, everyone is different. I am at Chelsea, I am at the best club in the world and you can learn a lot here.”
Loftus-Cheek made 16 appearances for Chelsea last season and is now looking to push on and further establish himself in the first team.
The youngster has cited Blues legend Frank Lampard as his inspiration. The former England international, a three-time club Player of the Year, is Chelsea's top goalscorer of all time with 211 goals. Loftus-Cheek is now hoping to add more goals to his game - just like his hero.
“I look to Lampard a lot,” the starlet confessed. “Lampard being at Chelsea [when I was younger] and being a goalscoring midfielder, he was the player I looked up to. I started off deep in midfield and ended up moving up the pitch as my career developed.”
Loftus-Cheek had a successful summer with the England Under-20 team, winning the Toulon Tournament and bagging the competition’s Best Player Award – a prize that has not been won by an Englishman since Alan Shearer in 1991.
Chelsea continue their pre-season preparations in Klagenfurt against RZ Pellets on Wednesday before facing Liverpool in the International Champions Cup in California next week.
- Goal