Ruben Loftus-Cheek agrees new long-term Chelsea contract — report

Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Chelsea have agreed a new five-year contract, reports Matt Law in the Telegraph, which includes a massive pay-rise from £60k to £150k per week, indicative of the 23-year-old’s importance to the club.

The new deal should be announced officially soon as well, perhaps soon after Frank Lampard’s appointment as head coach. So the next 48 hours. (Actually, Law claims that the Lampard announcement will be Wednesday, while others reports are going with “by Thursday”.)

In any case, it’s a great move from Chelsea, who are obviously keen to avoid another Eden Hazard or Callum Hudson-Odoi situation, especially with the transfer ban in effect for the next season. Loftus-Cheek, who’s expected to be out for about six more months thanks to his Achilles injury, had two years left no the contract he signed back in February 2016, in the middle of the “Mourinho Season”. He was already slated to become a big part of the team then, but he had to wait patiently for three more years. Fortunately, it now appears that he has gotten over that massive hurdle to in fact establish himself as an important, Academy-grown part of the first-team.

In further good news, the report also claims that Chelsea remain “optimistic” on Callum Hudson-Odoi signing a new contract, and the same could follow for Reece James as well.

Sounds good to us!