Chelsea loanee Ruben Loftus-Cheek has spoken out about his ‘tough’ spell with the Blues following his temporary move to Crystal Palace.

Loftus-Cheek joined the Eagles on a season-long loan last month in search of regular first-team football.

The 21-year-old midfielder has made just 22 league appearances since making his senior debut for Chelsea in 2014. But he will feature more prominently for Palace under the guidance of Frank de Boer.

Despite the Eagles’ 3-0 home defeat to Huddersfield on the opening day of the season, Loftus-Cheek played the full 90 minutes and impressed in a front three with Christian Benteke and Wilfried Zaha.

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Loftus-Cheek said: “It's tough being at Chelsea. I work hard every day in training. It's a massive club with really good players so you don't get the opportunity every weekend.

“Coming to Palace, I'm really excited to be playing. There's still massive competition here.”

He added: “Yeah, definitely [I still see a future at Chelsea]. Chelsea are my club, I support them.

“Right now, I'm fully committed to Palace and whatever happens, who knows?

“I could have gone [on loan] earlier and who knows what could have happened? I didn't and decided to stay. I'm getting older and now was the time to leave.”

Loftus-Cheek is set to retain his place in the starting eleven when Palace travel to Liverpool on Saturday.