Ruben Loftus-Cheek reveals he felt like ‘a caged animal’ at Chelsea and can’t wait to show what he can do at Milan, while admitting his talks with Fikayo Tomori and the Rossoneri started almost a year ago.
The midfielder had spent his entire career in London, going out on loan to nearby Crystal Palace and Fulham, making the €16m plus add-ons move to San Siro a rather extreme way of breaking that umbilical cord.
“I always contemplated moving,” he told The Times newspaper.
“This past season, coming towards the end, it felt like the right time to move on. I was starting to feel really good in my body and my injuries had cleared up.
“After the past two seasons feeling really good and not playing in the position you want to play, I was feeling like a caged animal. I just want to be free now to play, and I feel like it was the right time to move on.
“Change is always difficult but sometimes it might be the best thing.”
Loftus-Cheek had been on Milan’s radar for some time and he reveals there were already some talks behind the scenes when Chelsea played Milan in the Champions League and their manager at the time was Graham Potter.
So he started asking new Rossoneri defender Tomori what life was like in Serie A and specifically at Milan.
“I couldn’t tell him I was speaking to Milan, though,” he says, laughing. “I was kind of asking him what it was like and he said, ‘Why are you asking me this?’ I spoke to Fik a lot and when the move got closer I told him I might be going, it’s happening.
“He has been very good with me here. Not knowing the language, he has translated a lot and let me know how things work. He’s helped me settle in.”
Tomori is one of the new generation of English players who are quick to learn the local language and settle in to life abroad, whereas in the past they struggled in Serie A to get to grips with the lifestyle perhaps even more than the football.
The defender is setting an example that his former Chelsea teammate hopes to follow and is already taking Italian lessons daily.
When Chelsea played at San Siro in October 2022, Loftus-Cheek got an idea what it will be like to have that crowd on his side.
“Jorginho was waiting to take a penalty and you could hear these whistles that were so loud it was unbelievable. You’re thinking, imagine playing with that kind of support but it’s behind you. It’s going to be incredible. I’m really looking forward to playing there.”