Ruben Loftus-Cheek behind schedule, ‘no closer’ to being fit after recent setbacks

There was plenty to be happy about in Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over Aston Villa last night, but Frank Lampard had some bad news as well afterwards. Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s injury recovery is not going as well as we had been hoping, and there remains no timeline for his return to action after experiencing a few setbacks in the last couple months.

Loftus-Cheek has been out since mid-May with a ruptured Achilles, the same injury as Callum Hudson-Odoi suffered shortly before, but more severe. Hudson-Odoi has already returned ahead of schedule; Loftus-Cheek now appears to be behind schedule.

Ruben himself had mentioned these unspecified setbacks a couple times as well, talking about “a few” frustrating setbacks in a promo video for Wow Hydrate in October and then confirming that in an interview with Versus the following month, but this is the first time we’re hearing them in such stark reality from the manager himself.

“He has had a few setbacks over the last two months. He hasn’t had a new one. It is not flying along as we would want. It’s not for the want of trying for everybody.

”For Ruben there is nothing worse, of course, being injured. At the moment we are no closer to him being fit.”

“No, no, [there is no timescale for his return].”

-Frank Lampard; source: Football.London

Well, [FUN]. Get well soon, Ruben! As great as Kanté, Kovačić, and Jorginho have been this season, we could really use a top quality fourth midfield option as well, especially one with such a unique combination of skills as RLC.

P.S.: In addition to working hard on his comeback, Ruben has kept himself busy with a bit of modeling as well, most notably for Burberry’s latest campaign. YESSIR!