'Idol of AC Milan fans' - Ruben Loftus-Cheek's Italian revival amid incredible scoring form

Ruben Loftus-Cheek has resurrected his career at AC Milan with the English midfielder in brilliant goalscoring form in 2024. After almost 20 years at Chelsea, Loftus-Cheek departed his boyhood club in the summer with the San Siro side acquiring his services for €18.4million. Financially empowered by Sandro Tonali’s €64m move to Newcastle, AC Milan pinpointed Loftus-Cheek as a replacement midfielder and it’s proven to be a shrewd investment. Like his former Chelsea teammate Fikayo Tomori, Loftus-Cheek has flourished in Italy and he’s avoided the injury problems that prevented him from reaching his full attention in England. The 28-year-old has scored eight goals since the turn of the year and he’ll hope to grab Gareth Southgate’s attention as a late wildcard for his Euro 2024 squad.

The best goalscoring midfielders in 2024

Loftus-Cheek has scored nine goals this season, but remarkably eight of those have arrived in 2024. He has thrived after Stefano Pioli tweaked his formation from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 with Loftus-Cheek handed a more advanced role. The Englishman has been deployed as an attacking midfielder and he’s repaid his manager’s faith with goals. As the graphic below illustrates, Loftus-Cheek ranks third for goals from midfielders in 2024 behind Teun Koopmeiners and Benjamin Bourigeaud, while he’s scored more than Jamal Musiala and Cole Palmer.

He started the year in excellent form in Serie A, scoring against Empoli and Udinese in January before adding a brace against Bologna. While he’s not provided a goal contribution in the last seven league games, Loftus-Cheek has still impressed with AC Milan losing just one game on that run and he’s excelled in Europe. The talented midfielder has scored four goals in his last four Europa League games, including in both legs of the win over Slavia Prague to set up a mouth-watering quarter-final clash against Roma. Loftus-Cheek’s impressive physical attributes have stood out in Serie A, where games are more tactical and slower than the relentless tempo in England, and he’s adored by the AC support as explained by Transfermarkt’s Italian Content Manager Stefano Buonfino.

“Loftus-Cheek has quickly become an idol of AC Milan supporters,” Buonfino said. “It was likely that he could do well in Serie A, very physical players like him can make a big difference in Italy. The only real doubt was about his physical condition, as he has always been quite prone to injury, one of the reasons why he has always struggled to find consistency. With AC Milan, however, he has had no problems from this point of view, becoming an immediate totem in the new project that started this summer with the sale of Tonali and many players bought on the market. He was used at first as a midfielder in a 4-3-3 and then was moved forward, contributing to many goals this season.”

Could Ruben Loftus-Cheek earn England recall

It’s incredibly unlikely that Loftus-Cheek’s performances in Italy will earn an England recall but if he enjoys a successful end to the season then he could push himself onto Southgate’s radar. Loftus-Cheek has amassed ten caps for England but he hasn’t featured for his country in six years. Southgate, however, handed Loftus-Cheek his England debut against Germany in 2017 and he started three games in the 2018 World Cup.

Southgate has integrated exciting young players into this squad in recent years and as the graphic above shows, Loftus-Cheek is currently the 17th most valuable English midfielder at €25m - tied with Newcastle United’s Sean Longstaff. England possess two world-class midfielders in Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice, while Southgate has called-up Kobbie Mainoo after the youngster's excellent form for Manchester United. Chelsea duo Palmer and Conor Gallagher join veteran Jordan Henderson as the midfielders in the current England squad for the upcoming internationals against Brazil and Belgium. Eberechi Eze and Mason Mount will be aiming to regain their places as they step up their returns from injury and while Loftus-Cheek is shining in Italy, a return to the England fold for the Euros is unrealistic.