Chelsea ace Ruben Loftus-Cheek has admitted that he could be departing from the Premier League club on loan in the future – Celtic must make a move for him in the January transfer window.
Loftus-Cheek, 22, has lots of potentials but has not been able to show it at Stamford Bridge as he has been too far down the pecking order.
He spent the previous season on loan at Crystal Palace and impressed so much that he managed to earn himself a call-up to Gareth Southgate’s England squad ahead of more senior players like Adam Lallana and Jack Wilshere.
Celtic could also do with the extra quality in the central park and the Chelsea playmaker would be the perfect player to bring in and play behind one of the strikers or a deeper-lying midfield role to rotate with Olivier Ntcham.
Loftus-Cheek has hinted that he could be available on loan in January when asked about a potential return to Palace in the near future – but it must be the Hoops who try to win the likely race for the £35,000-a-week (Spotrac) ace.
“Possibly but it is still far away – there are still a lot of games to play and I just have to see what happens,” said Loftus-Cheek when asked about a possible second spell at Selhurst Park, as quoted by the Sun.
“Right now I am at Chelsea and my focus is at Chelsea and learning at Chelsea. That is in the future and we will deal with that when it comes.”
Away from Ntcham and Scott Brown, Celtic is lacking in major strength in depth in their central midfield.
If one of them was to sustain an injury or, knowing Brown, a suspension, then Brendan Rodgers is going to find himself with a major selection headache because he did not amicably replace Stuart Armstrong in the summer.
Moussa Dembele’s big-money sale should mean that the Hoops have enough to acquire Loftus-Cheek on a financial level while the promise of regular football and a title fight could be enough to convince him to join the Celtic Park residents.