Loftus-Cheek ruled out for 12 months
RUBEN Loftus-Cheek is facing up to 12 months out after suffering a devastating ruptured achilles injury in America. Midfielder Loftus- Cheek collapsed in agony after damaging his left achilles in Chelsea’s friendly at New England Revolution and left the Gillette Stadium on crutches with his foot in a protective boot.
He had been on the pitch for only 20 minutes after being introduced as a half-time substitute.
The 23- year- old, who misses Chelsea’s Europa League final against Arsenal on May 29 and England’s Nations League campaign next month, had surgery last night and there are now fears he could be out for the whole of next season.
Chelsea winger Callum HudsonOdoi suffered the same injury last month and is optimistic of returning in time to be involved in pre-season training.
But Hudson-Odoi is understood to have suffered a partial rupture while Loftus- Cheek’s is a full rupture — leading to the gloomier outlook and concerns the latter will have a significantly longer spell out of action.
Loftus-Cheek could not put any weight on his left foot and needed the help of two members of the Chelsea staff to leave the pitch.
The England midfielder had scans on the injury in America before Chelsea returned to England yesterday.
After further tests with specialists in London, it was decided surgery was the best option. Chelsea said in a statement last night: ‘ Ruben Loftus-Cheek has seen a specialist today and will have surgery on his ruptured achilles’ tendon this evening.’
Understandably, Loftus-Cheek was left hugely frustrated — not just by the timing of the cruel blow but also the circumstances, an avoidable injury coming in a friendly game.
He had finally managed to overcome a niggling back problem and established himself in Chelsea’s first team.
As important as the cause was — Chelsea helped raise £3.1million for the fight against
anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination — losing another key player to injury still dampened the occasion.
Head coach Maurizio Sarri had already questioned the timing of the post-season friendly that was the brainchild of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and which New England’s billionaire owner Robert Kraft dubbed the ‘Final Whistle on Hate’.
The Italian’s fears would only have increased when he saw the pitch his players were about to be risked on, a hastily laid down, patchy and slow astro-turf surface. Chelsea’s players were seen joking about the state of the pitch when they first saw it, pretending to roll it up like a carpet.
And Sarri ended the night clearly furious when his worst fears were realised and he lost a third important member of his firstteam plans to injury ahead of the Europa League final.
Defender Antonio Rudiger, with a knee problem, and Hudson-Odoi will also be missing in Baku.