Ruben Loftus-Cheek has praised Chelsea youngster Harvey Vale for his latest senior appearance last night.
The Blues qualified for the FA Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday by winning 3-2 away to Championship club Luton Town.
Yesterday’s drama was mainly centred around speculation involving a possible Chelsea takeover. Eventually, the club’s owner Roman Abramovich released a statement yesterday evening confirming his plans to sell the club.
There was drama on the pitch at Kenilworth Road, too.
Thomas Tuchel’s side had to come from behind twice before Romelu Lukaku scored a winning goal in the 78th minute.
Loftus-Cheek, who filled in as an emergency centre-back against Luton, believes 18-year-old Vale made a positive impact as a substitute last night.
“He did really well tonight, he held his own against some physical and strong players. He didn’t look out of place at all. Well done Harvey, I’m sure it felt natural to him. It looked very natural to him. Hopefully he can kick on now and get confidence from that,” Loftus-Cheek said.
Vale growing into senior Chelsea player
For Vale, he can be delighted by making his fourth first-team appearance for the club last night.
The attacking midfielder is yet another talented teenager coming through the academy system at Stamford Bridge, and it looks like Tuchel is warming to him.
He was thrown into the action with half an hour to play and his side 2-1 down, so there is clearly an element of trust from the manager.
The left-footer played out on the right wing trying to link up play and had several neat touches of the ball.
Vale, whose age reportedly once shocked ex-Blues player Olivier Giroud in training, is the Chelsea academy graduate pushing hardest for a senior breakthrough.
He’s ripping it up with the Under-23s side this season, but the bar has been set high to break into a competitive first team at the Bridge.
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