Tony Cascarino believes that Ruben Loftus-Cheek is already as good as £40m signing Tiemoue Bakayoko and will be a Chelsea first-teamer next season.
The former Chelsea striker also compared the midfielder to another former Blue, Michael Ballack while speaking on TalkSPORT.
Loftus-Cheek has impressed on loan at Crystal Palace this season and got himself on the scoresheet as the Eagles swept aside Leicester City 5-0 on Saturday.
The 22 -year-old has been on the books at Stamford Bridge since the age of eight, and Cascarino feels he has similar attributes to ex-German international Ballack:
He’s Michael Ballack of the midfield. He can be an attacker, he shields the ball brilliantly, and for Wilf [Zaha’s] goal… his tight control in possession – he does it brilliantly. You cannot ignore him.
Loftus-Cheek will be hopeful of being a first-team regular at Chelsea next season, and Cascarino wrote in his Times column that the Englishman is already better than £40m signing Tiemoue Bakayoko:
He could be in the Chelsea team now instead of Tiemoue Bakayoko — he is as good as the Frenchman signed for £40 million — and I think he would be a good midfield partner for N’Golo Kante.
Loftus-Cheek made his senior England debut last November and was given the Man of the Match award as they played out a stalemate with Germany.
