Ruben Loftus-Cheek can make great progress at Chelsea next season because he knows his status as a first-team player is secure, according to manager Jose Mourinho.
The 19-year-old midfielder made his first Premier League start in last week’s stalemate with Liverpool and will keep his place in the starting XI against West Bromwich Albion.
Loftus-Cheek has been part of Mourinho’s senior squad this term but is only getting a proper taste of top-flight action now the Premier League crown is already in the bag.
That is all set to change next season though as the Special One will consider the tall teenager for regular selection and Mourinho reckons that will aid the player’s development.
“At this moment he needs stability,” Mourinho said. “He played against Liverpool, he’s going to play against West Bromwich.
“Next pre-season he starts with us. He’s stable because he’s part of the squad and he’s not trying to win a place in the squad.
“He knows that he’s not going to go on loan and he know’s he’s going to stay. Players need this stability unless they play in small clubs where they go straight to the first-team.
“They need this stability. To be in a big team and to reach levels to be playing regularly for a first-team you need time and stability, which we try to give to our players.”
Loftus-Cheek is the first Blues academy product to break into the first-team setup in a decade, with John Terry the last youth-team graduate to make the grade.
But Mourinho is convinced the Chelsea production line is starting to create some exciting talents and will also give Izzy Brown and Nathan Ake some game-time at the Hawthorns.
“It’s changing,” he explained. “Academy is a process. The process starts with the facilities but ends with the co-op between the academy and the first-team area.
“In this moment we are working well. I think the players feel it and the best witnesses of this work are the players. We know we are going in the right direction and the players also know.
“They trust us. They know what we do is the best for them. They know that the decisions for the next season will also be the best for them.
“Ruben is going to stay as a member of the first-team squad. Probably the other boys that were here for one year with us are ready for the next step.
“The next step for them is a loan to a team in a good league. This is going to open space for kids in the academy to be in the first-team next season.
“Imagine Andreas Christensen going on loan to a high level market and he opens space for another defender in the academy now to become part of the group.”
