Ruben Loftus-Cheek: Jose Mourinho says highly-rated teenager will not be loaned out in January

'The best way for him to learn is to be with us,' said Mourinho

Ruben Loftus-Cheek will make his first-team debut for Chelsea against Sporting (Getty Images)

Jose Mourinho has said Ruben Loftus-Cheek, the teenager who will make his first team debut against Sporting Lisbon tonight, will not be sent on loan in January.

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Chelsea, like most Premier League clubs, usually send their young players on loan to develop because the step up from Under-21 development squad to first team is too great for most. The highly-regarded Nathaniel Chalobah, who at 19 is a year older than Loftus-Cheek, is currently at Burnley after previously having played for Watford, Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough – but not yet for his parent club. Twenty-four other Chelsea players, many of them youngsters, are also out on loan.

But Loftus-Cheek, said Mourinho, would not be joining them, not yet, because Mourinho wants to oversee his development personally. “From the tactical point of view, he has so much to learn,” said the Chelsea manager. “The best way to do that is to be with us. Even if he does not play with us regularly, the best thing for his development is to stay with the first-team. Probably in the next transfer window, we'll bring him into the first-team to stay with the first-team to try and push his development further in the second part of the season.”