Reuben Loftus-Cheek: England Can Become One of the Best Teams in the World

[Dave]

It's a shame that unless he can force a move to play first team football he will be no part of it.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek believes England have the potential to become one of the best teams in world football under Gareth Southgate.

England finished fourth at the World Cup in Russia but have largely struggled to beat the world's strongest teams in recent years - poor form that continued with a 2-1 loss to Spain on Saturday.

Southgate insists it will take time for England to develop into a possession-based side but Loftus-Cheek believes the team are well on the way to becoming one that is capable of competing for major honours.

"I think we definitely have that potential," said the 22-year-old ahead of Tuesday night's Sky Live friendly against Switzerlandin Leicester. "We have to have that belief to try and change things around.

"We are in this transition phase at the moment where we want to become one of the best teams in the world - up there with Spain, France and Germany.

England lost 2-1 to Spain in the UEFA Nations League on Saturday

"We want to compete with them and dominate football.

"We are in this transition phase where we want to have it mentally in our heads that we are one of the best teams in the world.

"It is that belief to have the courage to play in tight areas and try and play football rather than just going long. It takes time but we are working towards it."

Loftus-Cheek was an unused substitute during the defeat to Spain and the Chelsea midfielder was particularly impressed with the work of Sergio Busquets in the UEFA Nations League opener.

Loftus-Cheek believes England have the potential to be a world-class team

"His frame doesn't look like a frame [of a footballer], he is tall and gangly, but he's so sharp in his mind," said Loftus-Cheek.

"He knows what he wants to do next, his technique - he looks like he has so much time on the ball.

"He takes two touches or one touch and he makes it look so easy. If a fast and strong player had that as well, you could dominate."

[Cicero]

Should of loaned him when we had the chance. Just rotting away now unless he is heavily involved in our cup games and Europa.

Schalke would have been a brilliant move for him. 

[Guest]

Well, he's right. He's not only being realistic about England's current position, but with all the talented players that can come through, as well as them having some of their current crop for a while yet, they definitely can.

[Danny]

Needs to leave Chelsea asap, they have completely stunted his growth as a footballer and will continue to do so.

He is right though, over the next 3-4 years we will have players coming through that will create a "golden generation", they just need to be played in top flight football and we need a manager with the same principles that's Southgate is trying to install.

[Dan+]

We have some very high potential players but the obstacle of getting them regular game time still exists and he's a perfect example of that.

[SirBalon]

7 hours ago, Danny said:

Needs to leave Chelsea asap, they have completely stunted his growth as a footballer and will continue to do so.

He is right though, over the next 3-4 years we will have players coming through that will create a "golden generation", they just need to be played in top flight football and we need a manager with the same principles that's Southgate is trying to install.

Exactly what I keep saying to people... All that talent that's come through the system, that system where so much effort was put in by England's Football Association some years back and also how some clubs changed with the new philosophy on bringing up the new breed of young players...  All this and more goes to waste if players aren't being involved in high end competition every week.  And the only way big clubs abroad are also gonna bet on those younger players is if they're already showing it in England which all makes it a catch 22 situation.

[Danny]

1 hour ago, SirBalon said:

Exactly what I keep saying to people... All that talent that's come through the system, that system where so much effort was put in by England's Football Association some years back and also how some clubs changed with the new philosophy on bringing up the new breed of young players...  All this and more goes to waste if players aren't being involved in high end competition every week.  And the only way big clubs abroad are also gonna bet on those younger players is if they're already showing it in England which all makes it a catch 22 situation.

Fortunately for us the Germans have been very good scouting our players, hopefully they will sign some more.

Too many England youth players getting full Championship seasons in, not enough time in a top division even if the game time is cut down. English clubs won't risk it because the financial rewards are too high.

Look at Sancho, could now be at someone like Villa but is instead at Dortmund, getting less gametime but getting higher quality game time domestically and in Europe and will grow into more game time too. Not on loan in the second division, not playing in Holland or Belgium.

[SirBalon]

6 minutes ago, Danny said:

Fortunately for us the Germans have been very good scouting our players, hopefully they will sign some more.

Too many England youth players getting full Championship seasons in, not enough time in a top division even if the game time is cut down. English clubs won't risk it because the financial rewards are too high.

Look at Sancho, could now be at someone like Villa but is instead at Dortmund, getting less gametime but getting higher quality game time domestically and in Europe and will grow into more game time too. Not on loan in the second division, not playing in Holland or Belgium.

Even clubs like Barcelona have had scouts attending English club youth games and lower divisions and then taken a few over to their youth setups.  The change in direction made about a decade ago where no longer did we have the academies discarding smaller more technically gifted players and instead going for physical prowess (amongst other changes obviously) has seen production quality levels in England improve massively, hence recent international youth success for England... But the next and most important step so it isn't all lost is to obviously get them playing.

If this doesn't happen which isn't easy in today's high end football where ready made high profile names are the dish of the day, then it's all for nothing.