Maurizio Sarri has hailed midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek, claiming he can be one of Europe’s best.
The 23-year old has stood out as one of the club’s brightest young talents for quite some time, and impressed on Thursday evening in his first start since early January.
Loftus-Cheek lined up for the Blues as they took on Dynamo Kyiv in their Europa League Round of 16 second leg tie in Ukraine, with the travelling side coming away 5-0 victors.
Playing the full 90 minutes, Loftus-Cheek assisted Olivier Giroud and Chelsea’s first goal of the night inside five minutes, just his second assist of the season.
Having struggled with injury since the turn of the year, Loftus-Cheek will hope to kick on from this performance and feature more for Sarri’s side, as they look to secure Champions League qualification for next season.
And Sarri was delighted to see the England international perform so well, singling him out for praise. Talking to BT Sport, as reported by Goal, about Loftus-Cheek following the game, Sarri said:
He did very well. He is improving in the last month.
He has been able to train after the problem with the back. He had a wonderful match and I’m really happy he could play for 90 minutes.
His potential as a player is very, very, high. Physically, technically and tactically he is improving, he can become one of the best midfielders not only in England but in Europe.
