Maurizio Sarri has hailed Ruben Loftus-Cheek for blossoming into a “complete” midfielder under his stewardship at Chelsea this term.

Chelsea boss Sarri believes Loftus-Cheek has rounded out the defensive element of his game, so is now ready to feature regularly for the Blues.

But Sarri also conceded Loftus-Cheek’s long-standing back problem continues to hinder his progress.

“Now tactically Loftus is a very good midfielder,” said Sarri.

“At the beginning of the season he was a very offensive midfielder. Now he is complete I think. Maybe he’s ready to start most of the games, but we need to check every day the condition of his back.

“This morning he had only a recovery session. Because he needs time to recover after a match.

“The problem in this moment is only that probably he’s not able to play for 90 minutes.”

Provided by Press Association Sport