Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been told he must "discover the monster and unleash him" by Thomas Tuchel if he wants to become a Chelsea regular.
The Blues academy graduate, who first began pushing for a first team role eight years ago, has been in and out of the starting XI throughout his career in west London. He's been afforded several loan spells away but is beginning to enjoy a run of games at Chelsea.
Tuchel is not short of midfielders to call upon with Jorginho, N'Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic all available to him. Loftus-Cheek has had to be patient under Tuchel but did score in the FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace at Wembley recently. However, the German has issued a clear challenge to the 26-year-old, after critiquing some of his recent displays.
"He needs to push himself to the limit; he needs to be physical," said the Chelsea boss. "Had a bit of a shy game against Arsenal, like everyone. A calm first-half against Crystal Palace and stepped up in the second-half physically and with ball recoveries and dribbles. Suddenly the crowd was there too. This is what we demand from him. He is a calm person.
"He needs to discover this monster in him and unleash this on a regular basis because it is absolutely necessary. It is not enough to be just on the pitch. Maybe if you regard his last years, it may seem good because he is a regular but this is not enough. We cannot let him think it is enough, he needs to constantly push himself.
"We try every day and are quite successful given his development. He needs to understand how much potential he has and unleash this physical capacity on the daily. In training he cannot let loose. He needs to be under pressure and play every game like a cup final."
HAVE YOUR SAY! Should Loftus-Cheek be a regular? Let us know in the comments
Loftus-Cheek was previously linked with a move away from Chelsea, but eventually stayed put and is among a number of academy graduates featuring in the first-team picture. The likes of Mason Mount and Reece James have been able to establish themselves whilst Loftus-Cheek is yet to do so.
Tuchel recently claimed that the midfielder has perhaps heard too much about his potential and it is now time to begin delivering. He 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."
