Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been a bright light in Crystal Palace’s dark start to the season.
The November international break is a checkpoint which signals that we are roughly a third of the way through the season.
This is, in most cases, a long enough time for judgements to be made on the millions of pounds worth of summer signings.
Here we take a closer look at Crystal Palace’s loan signing of Ruben Loftus-Cheek from Chelsea.
The 21-year-old has been a bright light for the Eagles during their dark start to the season, benefitting from regular game time that he was never going to get at Stamford Bridge.
Already at Palace, Loftus-Cheek has made more Premier League starts – seven – than he did in three seasons at Chelsea, who may be regretting not giving him a chance to prove himself at home.
His powerful running and technical skill provided Palace with their only moments of attacking inspiration during their seven-game goalless run to start the season, prior to Wilfried Zaha’s return from injury.
An attacking midfield trio of Zaha, Loftus-Cheek and Andros Townsend has the pace and skill to allow Palace to take the game to the opposition, now that Roy Hodgson’s horror run of fixtures is behind him.
Loftus-Cheek must add an end product to his game though, if he is to help the Eagles climb off the bottom of the table. He has two assists to his name in eight matches, but he is yet to score in Palace colours.
The closest he came was hitting the post against Manchester City after skipping past two defenders.
The potential is there for all to see, and even earned the youngster a senior England debut in the 0-0 draw with Germany. He has been a real coup on loan, but Palace need even more from him going forward.
Grade: B+
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