Ruben Loftus-Cheek is firmly on the comeback trail for Chelsea.
The midfielder has not made a senior appearance this season because of an Achilles problem which he sustained during a friendly towards the end of the 2018/2019 campaign which also cost him a place in the squad for the Europa League final against Arsenal.
In a boost to head coach Frank Lampard, the 24-year-old made his long awaited Chelsea comeback on Tuesday morning.
Loftus-Cheek played an hour in a behind closed doors friendly between the Under-23s and Brentford B at Cobham as he took a big step towards making a senior appearance before the end of the season.
And it would appear that the midfielder suffered no setback as he took to social media and reacted to his return to action with an eight-word message for supporters.
"Back running with the ball at my feet," he wrote on Twitter.
Video clips of Loftus-Cheek in action for the U23's have been uploaded to the club's official website and there was one particular moment that will have encouraged fans.
At around the 1.00 minute mark the England international receives the ball on the edge of the box, holds off his marker as he creates space for a shot and goal.
Unfortunately he doesn't manage to hit the target, but that can be down to rust.
Getting into goalscoring positions is something that could earn Loftus-Cheek a regular spot in Lampard's strongest line-up when fully fit.
And after being used on the flank during a loan spell at Crystal Palace as well as at times playing as one of the three attackers under Maurizio Sarri last season, it's clear the Loftus-Cheek doesn't want to be known as 'Mr versatile'.
"I'm most effective as a box-to-box midfielder. Getting up and down, creating and also defending," Loftus-Cheek told Versus. "I've played in a number of positions because I'm versatile so it's easy for managers to move me around.
"I played left and right midfield at Palace but I managed to do well.
"That's cool when you're coming up but as I'm maturing I kinda want to nail down one position and hopefully that position is box to box."
