Loftus-Cheek and Chalobah will become England players – Mikel

By Ihesiulo Grace

5 October 2016

Sports

The Nigeria midfielder believes that the latest crop of Blues youngsters to break into the first team are good enough to one day become England players.

John Obi Mikel thinks that Chelsea youngsters Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Nathaniel Chalobah are the future for not only their club, but also their country.

Antonio Conte has started Loftus-Cheek in both EFL Cup games while Chalobah made his debut as a substitute against Leicester City and made a further appearance at the weekend against Hull City.

The Nigeria captain is confident that Loftus-Cheek and Chalobah will eventually become England internationals, but has warned them that they will have to work hard.

“Why not?” Mikel told Goal when asked if he thought the pair would become internationals. “I think they are now doing it for the under 21s so I think they will. Loftus-Cheek is a great player, Chalobah is a good player.

“If they want to play for England then they will have a role to play one day. England has a massive load of talent out there so they have to work hard and make sure that in the years to come that they will still be there.”

Mikel increasingly sees himself mentoring the younger players in the squad after becoming the second longest-serving player at Stamford Bridge, after the skipper John Terry.

The 29-year-old is confident that Loftus-Cheek and Chalobah can take their game to the next level, but offered them advice on how to make further inroads in a hugely competitive squad.

“They are all very, very good players, you can see the future of Chelsea right there,” he added. “I am sure that these players will play a massive role at this football club for many years to come. Loftus-Cheek, everyone knows who he is and he has played a few games for the first team.

“It is about mentality, how bad do you want it? That’s what we tell the young players [at Chelsea], it can’t be given to you, you have to work for it. You have to show the manager in training, you have to show in games that you want to play for this football club.

“Not just when you have the ball, off the ball is the most important time, what are you doing to help the team? I think they are listening.”

Loftus-Cheek and Chalobah are in the England Under 21 squad to face Kazakhstan on Thursday and Bosnia & Herzegovina on Tuesday.