Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has admitted he has discussed the idea of a loan move with Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek and options are being explored.
Loftus-Cheek has played just 288 minutes of football in over 16 months following an Achilles injury sustained in May 2019.
“I’m very open with Ruben and we’ve had a couple of conversations in the last week,” Lampard said.
“He’s fit as a fiddle so he can play week-in, week-out and he needs to play coming off the back of a lot of work now. He would have been playing games earlier if it wasn’t for the lockdown.
“There’s a possibility that he may go out to play games because I think that will be great for him. We hold him in very high regard here, I certainly do and that could be a good option for him. If that’s not the right option, he’ll be competitive in this squad as well because of the qualities he has.”
Lampard added: “He wants to play and the reality is I have a lot of competition in those areas when I look at the squad.
“Ruben is versatile – he can play different roles in midfield and sometimes off the side.
“He’s had a difficult time and the injury was a bad one. He hasn’t played as many minutes for this club as he would liked to have done for different reasons but just before his injury he was playing really well and contributing. “I was really looking forward to getting him back fit and working with him because I know what he can do. He gives us something different in terms of his physicality, how he plays and how he receives the ball but there is also a priority for everybody that Ruben plays games.
“That’s the delicate balance of what we’re trying to get right over the next week and we’ll do what feels right.”