Gareth Southgate backs Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek to capitalise on Euro 2020 delay

Take advantage: Loftus-Cheek hasn't featured since suffering an injury in May 2019
Getty Images

England manager Gareth Southgate believes Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek is one of several players who could benefit from the European Championships being postponed until next year.

The midfielder has not featured all season for the Blues after suffering an Achilles injury 13 months ago.

The 24-year-old’s fitness woes would have made it almost impossible for him to make the England squad for this summer’s Euros.

The tournament, however, has been shifted to next year due to the outbreak of coronavirus and Southgate believes that may benefit several players - including Loftus-Cheek.

“On moments of fate things do turn,” said Southgate.

“I was talking with Ruben Loftus-Cheek a few days ago, he’s been out for a year. No way would he have got back for a tournament like that.

“Who knows what the next 12 months might look like for him and other young players who might not have played in the Premier League yet, who might emerge in certain positions to provide competition for places.”

Like the rest of the UK, Southgate has had to cope with working remotely while the country has been in lockdown.

It has forced the England manager to change his working habits and he admits some techniques may stay even when social-distancing restrictions are lifted.

“Something like Zoom, at the start of lockdown I’d never used it before,” Southgate said.

In Pictures | Chelsea players return for training

1/13

“I started phoning some of the players, and I found these sort of sessions much more productive, the ability to at least see face to face, see reactions.

“I think internationally that will give us a better opportunity as we start working again, to keep closer contact with the players more regularly.

“You can share footage so you can coach remotely a little bit, and I think given the schedules with their clubs are so intense it’s much easier to hook up with them online for half an hour, at half six, seven at night perhaps, than it would be to meet them all individually.

“I think they’re the things you’ve got to look at moving forward that might improve how we work.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in