Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been ruled out of action for six months after rupturing his Achilles tendon playing in a charity friendly match in the United States.
That means that he will miss not only the Europa League final and England’s Nations League finals, but also the start of next season as well.
The 23-year old midfielder was playing for Chelsea in the “Final Whistle on Hate” friendly with New England Revolution, a charity match designed to raise funds and awareness to combat hate crime.
He collapsed on the ground in agony during the second half of the match played on an artificial pitch, and later had surgery on his left Achilles tendon.
For the record, Chelsea won the match 3 – 0, which raised more than £3 million in funds. Ross Barkley scored twice either side of an effort from Olivier Giroud. However, the cost to club and player could be considerably more than that.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.