Chelsea are set to hand a debut to youngster Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the Champions League tomorrow night.
The academy graduate is set to face the press with Jose Mourinho this afternoon ahead of the tie against Sporting Lisbon.
Mourinho, Chelsea’s manager, has set himself a target of integrating more young talents into his side in his second spell in charge.
He referred to the potential disappointment that he would feel if he didn’t have several of the current crop of young players featuring for his side by the time he left.
It seems as though the integration of Loftus-Cheek is a further step along that path.
The Blues go into the game against Sporting in fairly fortunate circumstances, having already qualified for the knockout round.
As a result, Mourinho can afford to experiment.
They were, however, hit by a blow at the weekend when they lost their first game of the season against Newcastle United.
