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Owen Hargreaves lauded Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s decision to move away from Chelsea after the midfielder struck twice in AC Milan’s Europa League play-off tie against Rennes on Thursday evening.
The 28-year-old Blues academy graduate left his boyhood club after 19 years as part of the summer exodus from Stamford Bridge which saw a number of former first-team starters sold to offset the club’s mammoth transfer window spending.
Loftus-Cheek has settled quickly in Milan and become a regular fixture under Stefano Pioli alongside fellow ex-Chelsea stars Olivier Giroud, Christian Pulisic, and Fikayo Tomori.
After the final whistle, Hargreaves not only described Loftus-Cheek as a ‘good fit’ at the San Siro, but wondered whether the player might even wish he had moved abroad sooner.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek scored a brace at the San Siro to boost AC Milan’s chances at progressing in the Europa League
The England international netted his fifth and sixth goals in eight games on Thursday night
Owen Hargreaves lauded Loftus-Cheek’s decision to continue his career abroad away from the scrutiny of playing for his boyhood club
‘Just looking at it, I can’t believe Ruben Loftus-Cheek is 28 already,’ Hargreaves said on duty for TNT Sports. ‘I know he’s always been a star as a young man but he probably should have made this move (abroad) a little bit sooner.
‘He’s such a talented guy. Probably played a little bit deeper at times. This is where he’s at his absolute best, arriving in the box with his size. He’s a good header of the ball. He’s got goals in him.
‘It shows he’s in a really good place, in a team that plays to his strengths. And he’s scoring goals. That one (the second goal), he’s a little bit fortunate, it arrives to him.
‘I think the confidence has grown. We’ve always known that he’s such a talented player, he’s obviously not a boy anymore, 28, he should be at his absolute best.’
Like his former Chelsea team-mate Tomori – and a number of young talents including Borussia Dortmund’s Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham – Hargreaves believes that Loftus-Cheek is feeling the benefits of playing away from the scrutiny of his boyhood club.
‘I just think there’s less noise around you (abroad),’ Hargreaves added. ‘You know when you’ve got your friends and family around you, everyone is on you. Sometimes you just want to focus on the football, but you can’t if you’re in your home town.
‘There he’ll probably be able to focus on his craft, learn a new language, learn a new culture.
‘I would advise it to every player – leave your comfort zone and go play somewhere else, just even for a few years. I just think you learn so much.’
The 28-year-old’s team-mate Fikayo Tomori previously played alongside him at both youth and senior levels with Chelsea
The former Manchester United midfielder can attest to the importance of a player spending a portion of their career away from the Premier League, having started as a youth player at Bayern Munich.
The 41-year-old spent the first six years of his senior career in Bavaria before booking his move to Manchester in 2007.
The 3-0 victory on home turf sets Milan up well ahead of the second-leg of their play-off tie after the side dropped down from the Champions League after finishing behind Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain in the group stages.
Milan will face Atalanta next weekend before they travel to France, and will hope to leapfrog Juventus to sit second in the table with a win against the fourth-placed side.
