Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s agent says Lazio boss Maurizio Sarri is a fan of his client and the midfielder is interested in the Italian top flight, as he hints at a possible summer move.
The 26-year-old has long been on the fringes of the Chelsea first team, making his first team debut in 2014, but struggling to hold down a place under a string of managers since then.
Last season was actually his most prolific in terms of appearances for the Blues, turning out 40 times in all competitions and making 13 starts in the Premier League.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel may not be keen to let him go, but agent Jonathan Barnett says there is definitely interest in him from former Blues manager Sarri at Lazio.
‘Lazio have not spoken to Chelsea as far as I’m aware, but Maurizio Sarri is a fan of Ruben [Loftus-Cheek] and he likes Serie A,’ Barnett told II Messaggero. ‘Let’s see what happens.’
Loftus-Cheek still has two years to run on his contract at Stamford Bridge so the club are not under any immediate pressure to sell, but they might want to cash in now before his value starts to fall nearer the end of his deal.
Speaking about the England international in April, Tuchel said: ‘We speak a lot about this – that he is still gifted to be here and it’s still a huge opportunity. He has everything that it takes otherwise he would not play and we would not count on him.
‘But he has heard this for so many years that maybe he heard it too much, throughout the Academy level and all the loans. Everybody was telling him how good the potential is and how big the future can be but the future is only there if you live up to it in the present.
‘He needs to trust himself. With him, it’s absolutely not a matter of over-confidence, it’s the opposite. He needs to have confidence in his body physically and also in his ability to do it not once or twice but 10 or 20 times in a row.
‘It’s little steps and it might sound like it’s far too little steps given the potential and what’s in there, given the performances that he can produce but it’s actually not. It’s the only way for him to go in these little steps, to grow in confidence and become the player finally that he can be.’
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