Towards the end of last season Antonio Conte confided to staff at Chelsea that if he was to select his side based on training sessions then Ruben Loftus-Cheek would be the first name on the team-sheet. Instead Loftus-Cheek made four brief substitute appearances – the earliest he came on was the 82ndminute – in the final months of the season and has spent this campaign on loan at Crystal Palace.
Chelsea won the Premier League title but Conte felt he could not risk playing Loftus-Cheek or Ola Aina, another youngster who was flying in training and who made just one appearance, as a 75th-minute substitute. Aina is also out on loan, at Hull City, this season while it still pains some at the club that...