By Laura O'Leary

26th Jun, 2018 | 10:15am

Newcastle must win reported race for Loftus-Cheek - opinion

COMMENT

Chelsea reportedly have no intention of selling midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek this summer and will look to loan him if he is not in the club’s first-team plans once again.

The 22-year-old does not wish to be stuck on the bench at Stamford Bridge in his 2018/19 campaign and according to the Daily Mail the Blues are open to loaning him out if he isn’t going to regular feature but they won’t listen to offers in regards to selling him.

This stance plays right into the hands of the Magpies as clearly they would have been priced out of the race to sign Loftus-Cheek if he was going to depart Stamford Bridge on a permanent basis this summer.

Rafa Benitez is set to have a modest budget to improve his squad in this window as reported by the Chronicle, and knows he will have to make the most of the loan market.

Loftus-Cheek will be one of the best players available to sign on a temporary basis and the Magpies must ensure he arrives at St James Park for that reason.

The Daily Mail’s report claims that Leicester City and West Ham are keen on the midfielder who is 6ft 3in tall (Source: Transfermarkt) with the Daily Mirror previously stating that the Toffees wanted to sign him.

The Mirror’s report also shared that Crystal Palace and the Magpies were in the race for Loftus-Cheek’s signature with Palace being interested after watching the midfielder excel at their club while on loan last season.

The 22-year-old flourished as he made 25 appearances for Roy Hodgson’s side and he looked capable of being a star in any Premier League side outside of the top-six.

The colossus midfielder’s wonderful passing ability and knack for being able to run the midfield for his side would see him be a revelation at St James Park and help shoot the Magpies up the Premier League.

Given that the Magpies appear to have a good relationship with the Blues having had Kenedy on loan at the club last season, Benitez must exploit his contacts at Stamford Bridge once again in order to ensure Loftus-Cheek arrives.

The Magpies simply must win the reported race for the 22-year-old midfielder as given their transfer budget, there are few better signings they could make in this window in order to noticeably improve their first-team.

In other Newcastle United news, six teams are in the hunt to sign the club’s colossus on loan.

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