Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek says he was very close to making his first-team comeback before fixtures were suspended due to the global health crisis.

The 24-year-old has now missed a year of football after picking up a serious Achilles injury in a friendly against New England Revolution last May, and the England international says the enforced break did not come at the best time for him:

“It was frustrating for sure. I’ve put a lot of hard work into getting fit and had just finished what was kind of like my pre-season. I was training with the group and then doing my own stuff afterwards with the fitness coaches, which was really hard trying to get fit to play as quickly as possible.”

“I’d been doing that for weeks and weeks and started to feel like I was very close but then lockdown came. It was frustrating but that’s life – I’ve just had to carry on keeping fit by myself.”

Loftus-Cheek is now ready to return to action. Like every other Blues player, though, he will need to build up his fitness following two months without a full training session.

It’s unlikely that he’ll be put back into the fray straight away, with rustiness likely to be a major factor considering how long he has been on the sidelines for, but fans should expect him to make a number of substitute appearances when the season gets back underway in the next month or so.