‘He is still waiting for the next step’ – Thomas Tuchel tells Ruben Loftus-Cheek he must step up NOW for Chelsea future

RUBEN LOFTUS-CHEEK is running out of time to live up to his billing.

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel delivered the stark ultimatum as the one-time England midfielder embarks on another renaissance.

Loftus-Cheek, 26, has started four of the last five games and Tuchel hinted he will again be on his teamsheet in tomorrow’s FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace.

Selhurst Park is where Loftus-Cheek enjoyed one of two loan spells away from the pressure of Chelsea.

But it is at his parent club where the ten-cap international needs to show he can cut it long term.

Tuchel said: “He has everything, but he has heard it for so many years, he has heard it too much.

“In our academy, on loan, everybody saying how good his potential is, how good his future can be. But the future is only there if you live up to it in the present.

“He needs to trust himself. It is not a matter of over-confidence. It is the opposite.

“He needs to feel confidence in his body and in his ability to do this not once, twice but three, four, ten, 20 times in a row.

“It was always, ‘Will he have his breakthrough?’ and he is a certain age now and has not had his breakthrough.

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“He is still waiting, still waiting for the next step.

“So for him, it is crucial to focus on the very day where he is.

“It can be a huge distraction for him to think a week, two weeks ahead and months ahead about what can be. There could already have been so much more.

“It’s not like he was absolutely the key player when he went on loan but he showed his potential —  it is always potential.”

Loftus-Cheek’s career has been blighted by a series of niggling injuries, the most serious which came three years ago when he ruptured his Achilles.

RLC, who has been at Chelsea since he was eight, missed nearly a year of football and he admitted it took him time to get back up to his speed as his body did not feel the same.

But Tuchel fears one of his best players is too scared to really go for it despite starring in an unfamiliar right-wing back role recently.

An impressive run of form has triggered thoughts that Loftus-Cheek could make a play for this winter’s World Cup even though it is four years since he last played for England.

Tuchel said: “I don’t want to ruin his mood but I think the last thing Ruben needs right now is to think about the World Cup because given his history, coming through the academy, going many times, many times here.

WORLD CUP NOT A PRIORITY

“Even from outside, from Germany and in Paris, all the time he was so promising.

“The only way is to grow in confidence and become the player he can be.

“Self-confidence does not come from being big and tall and good looking. It comes from experience.

“I still have the feeling that Ruben is a bit surprised that he can do 105 minutes or 110 minutes in this kind of position.

“He can do it in training but needs to do it in games, which are very different.

“I don’t think he is fully aware of what he can produce, what he can physically give. He is still in the situation where he accepts limits too early.”