MILAN (AP) — Inspired by Kaka, anxious to join up with former Chelsea teammate Fikayo Tomori and ready to bring his box-to-box play to Italy, Ruben Loftus-Cheek is looking forward to his debut for AC Milan at the San Siro.
The English midfielder recently signed a four-year deal with Milan following a transfer from Chelsea that was reportedly worth 16 million euros ($17.5 million).
“I was at Chelsea for 20 years of my life. This is a special time for me to finally break away from the club, start a new chapter in my life,” Loftus-Cheek said in a video posted on Milan’s website Tuesday.
Having coming up through Chelsea’s youth system, Loftus-Cheek played seven seasons for the Blues with 155 appearances and 13 goals. He won two Premier League titles with Chelsea, a Club World Cup, a European Super Cup and a League Cup. He also had loan spells at Crystal Palace and Fulham.
He played with Tomori at Chelsea’s academy.
“I’ve spoken to him a lot the past month, couple of months even, especially when things came out in the press and he was asking me if I was coming,” Loftus-Cheek said. “He said, ‘If you come you’ll feel how big the club is and the history of the club and what it means to play for AC Milan.’ And I was always tempted to come.”
At 6-foot-3 (1.91 meters), Loftus-Cheek combines a physical presence with a mix of various skills.
“I’m accustomed to a lot of positions in my career. Different formations require me to play different positions, and I’ve been comfortable with that,” he said. “But I feel like my best is, where I can impact the game the most, is in the midfield, in a box-to-box position where I can get up and score goals and get back and defend and bring my physicality. And that’s what I really want to do in this league.”
Loftus-Cheek fills a hole in Milan’s midfield that was created when Sandro Tonali left for Newcastle. He will wear Tonali’s No. 8 shirt with the Rossoneri. His closest experience to Serie A came when he played under Italian coaches Antonio Conte and Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea.
The 27-year-old grew up admiring Kaka at Milan.
“He was just an incredible runner with the ball and that’s one of my strengths in the game — when I can open up and run with the ball and Kaka was one of the best of that,” Loftus-Cheek said.
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