AC Milan have made contact with Chelsea over a potential summer move for Ruben Loftus-Cheek, football.london understands.
The 27-year-old midfielder is about to enter the final 12 months of his contract at Chelsea and as of yet, there have been no official talks to renew his deal. Milan and the Blues have been in contact this week over a possible move for Loftus-Cheek in the summer transfer window with Chelsea looking to offload a number of players after two extortionate transfer windows in terms of incomings at Stamford Bridge.
Loftus-Cheek, who is valued at around £22million on football database website Transfermarkt, has been somewhat of a bit-part player at Chelsea this season but has still racked up 20 appearances in the Premier League Seventeen of those have been from the start, with Loftus-Cheek often being used as a right wing-back to cover Reece James who has once again struggled with injuries this term.
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Todd Boehly, along with the new ownership group at Chelsea, are trying to be more decisive with their actions when it comes to players in the latter stages of their contracts with the club. Loftus-Cheek sees his deal expire in June 2024 so he certainly falls into that category. He is a very handy squad player and has been used as such this season but he was never really viewed as an integral starter under Thomas Tuchel or Graham Potter.
Tuchel, though, was a big admirer of Loftus-Cheek. The former Chelsea head coach called on the Cobham graduate to unleash the "monster" inside of him when he was in charge at Stamford Bridge.
"He needs to push himself to the limit; he needs to be physical," Tuchel said last year. "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."
Chelsea are set for a massive clearout of players when the summer transfer window officially opens. The likes of Loftus-Cheek could indeed be sold to try and recover some of the money Boehly has spent in the past two transfer windows.
Conor Gallagher, Loftus-Cheek's midfield teammate, is another player that could leave the club in the summer. Gallagher has plenty of interest from elsewhere in the Premier League with Liverpool considering making a move for the midfielder as well as Mason Mount.
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