They may have travelled thousands of miles together on England Under-21 duty this week but Chelsea’s Nathaniel Chalobah and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are heading in different directions at the moment.

Anyone tuning in to watch England secure the 1-0 win they needed in Kazakhstan on Thursday night to qualify for the European Championships next summer, will have noticed their contrasting moods.

While Chalobah was calm and confident as he bossed the midfield, Loftus-Cheek looked demoralised and frustrated.

These things can happen in any match, yet it was a reflection of what is happening in their careers at Chelsea right now.

Chalobah’s is on the up under former Italy coach Antonio Conte, although it has taken a lot longer to make an impact at the club than he would have hoped.

The 21-year-old was on Chelsea’s substitute’s bench as a 15-year-old but had to wait until a League Cup tie at Leicester last month before finally making his senior debut.

There have been many before and since but Chalobah was earmarked from a very early age to buck the trend at Stamford Bridge and make the step from Academy graduate to first team regular.

The customary tactic of using loans to enhance his development have garnered mixed results.

Of the six clubs Chalobah played for, only the season he spent at Watford in 2012-13 was a total success.

Strangely, it was his limited role at Napoli last term, when he started just two matches and made only nine appearances overall, that has made the difference.

As Chelsea’s loan player technical coach Eddie Newton explained: “Nathaniel learnt a lot tactically from going over there. It was a different way to train, a lot of tactical information was given to him.

“Fortunately, the manager [Conte] is of that culture and trains in a very similar vain, therefore it’s not alien to him.

“Nathaniel has got into the training and dealt with it really well. He is mentally more focused, more driven and grown up a lot. He is at that stage of his career where he is ready to stake a claim.”

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Conte obviously likes what he sees and significantly added to Chalobah’s cameo in the EFL Cup, by giving the defensive midfielder his first outing for Chelsea in the Premier League at Hull last Saturday.

England Under-21s were the ones to benefit from such a show of faith. Chalobah passed the ball impressively in Kazakhstan, constantly providing an outlet for the back four or his more advanced team-mates.

Loftus-Cheek, however, was disappointing and was substituted with just under 20 minutes to go.

The timing could not have been worse.

No Chelsea youth product has had more chances to impress for their senior side in the last few seasons but as the performance for England showed, his progress is starting to stagnate.

Loftus-Cheek’s Chelsea debut came at the age of 18 in 2014, three years younger than Chalobah is now.

He has added another 22 appearances since then, including being handed two starts by Conte in the EFL Cup.

While that still means he’s had more minutes on the pitch for Chelsea than Chalobah has this term, one gets the impression he wanted far more and it’s getting to him.

Conte does not seem quite sure where is best to play the 20-year-old. Since the friendlies in pre-season, he has been picked in midfield, as a No 10 and even a striker.

England Under-21 coach Aidy Boothroyd played him at No 10 last night and a weak attempt to score after being put clean through summed up his unconvincing display.

And if you struggle to make an impression against Kazakhstan’s junior outfit, then Conte is hardly going to pick him for the Premier League any time soon.

Conversely, Chalobah may have a lot more to look forward to.