Maurizio Sarri has explained why he risked incurring the wrath of Ruben Loftus-Cheek by omitting him from Chelsea’s squad against Arsenal.
Loftus-Cheek did not even make the bench as Chelsea edged to a 3-2 victory over their London rivals on Saturday. Read 16 Conclusions. Cheers.
The 22-year-old played 22 minutes in the club’s season-opening victory over Huddersfield, having sat out the Community Shield after his exploits for England at this summer’s World Cup.
It was thought that his performances in Russia would have provided a platform to finally break into Chelsea’s first team, having impressed on loan at Crystal Palace last season.
But his omission from the squad to face Arsenal represents a significant setback, and the player is reported to have requested ‘showdown talks’ over his future as a result.
Sarri says he simply wanted to maintain a balance on his bench, opting for more wingers than midfielders.
“It depends on the position on the pitch,” Sarri explained. “I prefer to have on the bench two wingers, and only one midfielder. So it depends on this. Not any other situation.
“I needed on the bench one goalkeeper (Caballero), one full-back (Zappacosta), one centre-back (Christensen), maybe two midfielders and only one winger, but yesterday I preferred vice versa, two wingers (Hazard, Moses) and one midfielder (Kovacic).”
Lodtus-Cheek will hold showdown talks this week over his Chelsea future.The England midfield star will ask new boss Maurizio Sarri for a loan if he does not play regularly.
After going to the World Cup in the summer, Loftus-Cheek wants to build on his England breakthrough by playing every week.
But Sarri only brought him on for a brief sub appearance in the win over Huddersfield and axed him from the squad against Arsenal on Saturday.
Crystal Palace successfully took him on loan last season as he made 25 appearances and the Eagles were interested in another deal — but Chelsea made it clear they wanted to keep the Three Lions star.
Sarri also told Loftus-Cheek he was part of his plans, although Jorginho, N’Golo Kante and Ross Barkley have been picked ahead of him so far.
With the Premier League window closed, Loftus-Cheek could get loaned to a club in Germany, Spain or France.
There were suggestions a move to Schalke may have been on the cards but the German club, who were also offered Danny Rose and Danny Drinkwater this month, ruled it out stating Loftus-Cheek would have been too expensive.
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