Chelsea academy graduate Ruben Loftus-Cheek reveals his first football shirt was an Arsenal jersey

Chelsea star Ruben Loftus-Cheek has admitted he grew up idolising Thierry Henry and picked out an Arsenal shirt as his first ever jersey. 

The midfielder, a product of Chelsea’s academy, received his first football shirt as a six-year-old and chose the Gunners strip because of his admiration of the French legend, before joining the Blues two years later.

Now 24, Loftus-Cheek has gone on to make the grade for the first team after featuring 72 times and scoring 12 goals. But while most supporters would think that those coming through the youth ranks would have a strong affiliation with the club – the England international has lifted the lid on his childhood fandom.  

Ruben Loftus-Cheek has revealed he grew up admiring Arsenal fan and even had their jersey

He said former Gunners star Thierry Henry was a huge inspiration for him as a young footballer

‘It was actually an Arsenal kit when I was about six because I really liked Thierry Henry at the time,’ he told Chelsea’s official website.

‘It was obviously very shortly after that I started with Chelsea at the academy.’ 

Born in Lewisham, Loftus-Cheek was a regular for the club’s youth teams after linking up with them aged eight, and helped them win the FA Youth Cup in 2011-12 and 2013-14. 

He would make his first team bow in 2014-15 and has featured sporadically under a different group of managers – with injuries halting his progress at times. A ruptured achilles tendon has kept him out for the entirety of this campaign.

The England midfielder has missed nearly the entire campaign with an achilles injury 

But watching on the sidelines has given him a chance to watch Chelsea’s new young blood given a chance on the big stage, with the likes of Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori and Billy Gilmour all flourishing under Frank Lampard.

Loftus-Cheek said they were coming through at the perfect time thanks to Lampard’s willingness to give youth a chance and praised the entire squad for making it through a tricky spell when the club were under embargo and unable to make signings. 

He added: ‘That’s really encouraging for the youngsters coming through the academy in the future that they have a gaffer who’s willing to play them if they show they can play at the level.

‘The whole squad have done really well this season, especially having no new players coming in and the team being very young.’