A busy youth team Monday saw 16 year-old midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek reveal that he is set to sign professional terms at Chelsea, whilst the Under-18 team continued their winning ways in pre-season.
Loftus-Cheek, an England Under-16 captain who has spent the entire summer with Dermot Drummy’s Under-21 squad, posted on his Twitter account that he has signed a pre-contract agreement to turn professional on his 17th birthday in January of next year.
The news comes as no surprise to regular followers of the younger generations at Stamford Bridge, with the midfielder having made fabulous progress over the last 18 months. Injuries have held him back from ascending even further but it would not be out of the question for him to come into the same sort of reckoning as Nathaniel Chalobah in the next year, especially considering his impressive physical stature already.
With little left to prove at youth team level and with it rarely proving a challenge, he is likely to be a regular feature under Drummy amongst older players next season. Thus far in the pre-season schedule he has more than held his own against adult professionals, and is an exciting prospect for the future.
In other news, the Under-18s he leaves behind racked up a fifth summer win in six games by defeating Millwall 3-1 at Cobham. A team once again including Joao Rodriguez and Victorien Angban came out on top courtesy of two free-kicks from Anjur Osmanovic and a fine curling effort from Jesse Starkey.
The team now head north to Manchester, where they will take part in a five-team tournament hosted by Manchester United. Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Arsenal complete the line-up for the second year of the gathering, which was greeted with a very positive reaction last time out.