Gary Cahill, Kurt Zouma praise Ruben Loftus-Cheek

On top of going through the next round of the FA Cup with a win over Scunthorpe United yesterday, Chelsea and their fans also enjoyed an excellent performance from young midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who got on the scoresheet with the Blues' second goal of the game.

As one of the oldest players in Chelsea's dressing room, defender Gary Cahill praised the youngster for his patience to wait for a chance and his work in training.

"I'm delighted for him. With the quality in the team and especially in his position, he's had to be patient. He's worked really hard in training, he's a great kid, he works really hard at his game. He's been chomping at the bit and he wants to be involved, he wants to play. He's shown that patience."

"But it's not just his goal, it was his performance. It was great. As a young boy, you just want to do everything right when you come on and especially when you come on at home, with the crowd here. You may not get too many opportunities when you are younger so to come on and do as well as he did. I'm really pleased for him."

-Gary Cahill; Source: The Guardian

One of the comparisons made by Chelsea fans who defend the use of more young players in the team's first-team is to Tottenham's Dele Alli, who is the same age as Loftus-Cheek, but has already become an integral part of the Spurs team. Cahill believes that RLC has all the attributes to become a great player, claiming that our prospect can also follow Alli's path.

"Ruben has had a couple of runs in the team and I think he is a top, top player. If you look at attributes, he's got all of it. It's just how he progresses. Obviously, that's down to him getting a few chances and down to himself so it will be interesting to see how he does progress but for me, he has got everything that you need to become a top player. Dele Alli's rise has been incredibly fast and why can't he do it?"

-Gary Cahill; Source: The Guardian

Another player who gave his share of praise to Loftus-Cheek is French defender Kurt Zouma. At 21, Zouma had to go through the same experience that RLC is having right now, and he knows how patience might be rewarded one day.

"I'm very pleased for Ruben. He works very hard every day in training and he took his chance [yesterday]. He scored and he has to keep going now because it is not the be all and end all, but we are very happy for him."

"Everybody has the quality to become a regular in the first team, it is just we have a lot of good players. So as young guys we have to wait because the big players are older than us, but when we have a chance we have to give everything."

"I'm not going to say I'm an example to other young players, but of course when I have a chance I try to do my best and that is a good thing because I'm just 21 and I have to improve every day."

-Kurt Zouma; Source: Get West London

Loftus-Cheek's performance yesterday might come across as a mirror image of our current season: shaky at first, but very promising by the end. If he keeps that up, our dreams of finding our own Paul Pogba - and not letting him go - might become true in the near future.