Branislav Ivanovic has heaped praise on youngster Ruben Loftus-Cheek following his Chelsea debut – and says the Blues could have five or six growing talents in the same class.
Loftus-Cheek was calm and assured for an hour against Liverpool in Sunday's 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge before being substituted to a standing ovation from the Champions' supporters.
With Jose Mourinho confirming he, and other young prospects from Chelsea's garlanded youth set up, will be getting more match time before the season is out – Ivanovic is very pleased with the 19-year-old's progress.
“You're right to say a lot of the day was about him,” said the Serbian fullback of the Lewisham-born midfielder.
“He impressed everyone and I hope this in just the beginning of a big career. What I liked about him against Liverpool was he kept everything simple, he put the base high up the pitch.
“He can do a lot more than he showed against Liverpool, but it's great. He just needs the chance and I hope in the future we get one more great player.
“In my opinion we have a great generation of young players. They improve during training with us and they can be competitive in the team.
“They can make our squad bigger and in the future we can really think about them. It's great. I think they can be good.
“It's not just Ruben. We have a minimum of five-six players who can be in our squad and it is great for the manager to give them a chance to play.”
Pressed on who he saw as Chelsea's best young talents, Ivanovic was clear: “(Dominic) Solanke, Izzy Brown, (Andreas) Christensen, (Nathan) Ake - the guys who are already with us and they showed the can play in training.
“In the next couple of games they will get a chance. It's a great motivation for them. They're still young, they need to fight.
“This is the period, the next one or two years, where they need to prove they are really good.”
