(Reuters) – Chelsea head coach Graham Potter has backed Ruben Loftus-Cheek for a place in the England squad at next month’s World Cup in Qatar.
Loftus-Cheek, who suffered a serious Achilles injury in 2019, has struggled to nail down a starting spot at Chelsea but the midfielder has made 14 appearances for the London club this season.
“He has really impressed me, Ruben, on and off the pitch,” Potter told reporters ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League clash at Salzburg.
“He is fantastic on the ball, great physicality, great athlete. I think he is putting himself in a situation where he will be one of the players Gareth (Southgate) will be looking at as an outsider for the squad. But that is Gareth’s decision.”
Loftus-Cheek was part of the England squad that reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and he said going to Qatar “would mean the world” to him.
“As a player, after going into the 2018 World Cup, you see your trajectory to go upward and to be at the next World Cup if everything goes well,” Loftus-Cheek told reporters.
“If I go to the World Cup, it would mean the world, but that is not at the forefront of my mind at the moment.”
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
