• Midfielder who was on loan at Palace set to face Panama • ‘Key for me regarding where I end up: I want to play’

Ruben Loftus-Cheek will demand regular first-team football next season if he is to stay at Chelsea, with the England midfielder, who is in line to start against Panama, not prepared to revert to a bit-part role at his club.

Loftus-Cheek is likely to replace the injured Dele Alli in Sunday’s Group G fixture in Nizhny Novgorod – while the latter is in rehabilitation from a minor thigh strain – having impressed in a 10-minute cameo against Tunisia on Monday. His focus remains solely on the World Cup but, on the team’s return from Russia, the 22-year-old will seek assurances from Chelsea that he will feature regularly.

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Loftus-Cheek has made six Premier League starts for the club since his senior debut in December 2014 and featured only from the bench in the 2016-17 title win, making six substitute appearances. That lack of opportunity convinced him to seek out a loan move to Crystal Palace last term. He made 21 league starts for the Selhurst Park side – despite enduring a three-month hiatus as he recovered from an ankle problem – and he broke into the England setup on the back of that fine form.

Chelsea are edging ever closer to appointing Maurizio Sarri as their new head coach, with Antonio Conte expecting to leave the club after two seasons, and Loftus-Cheek will report back for training towards the end of July hoping to make an impression on the new man in charge.

“That’s the key for me next season regarding where I end up: I want to play,” he said. “I want to play as much as I can. And even this past season I didn’t play as much as I would have liked, because of the injuries and stuff, so I still feel I need a proper season of playing, wherever it is.

“I do understand Chelsea are a big club and there is always pressure on managers to win games and trophies. So I understand they might not be willing to take a chance on someone at a bigger club.

“Ever since I was in the Chelsea academy, I’ve had that awareness that people were saying I would be the first one to break through since John Terry. I believed I could but the opportunities didn’t quite come for me. It’s hard to keep training at your best but I made sure I did for when the time came, or when I did get opportunities like at Palace. We’ll see what happens. I’m confident in my ability and that I can do well, wherever it is. But I’m not thinking about whether I’m going to play at Chelsea right now. I’m only focused on the tournament.”

Gareth Southgate is apparently reluctant to make too many changes against Panama from the team who impressed, particularly in the first half, in Volgograd, though Loftus-Cheek is expected to fill the void left by Alli.

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Loftus-Cheek’s muscular energy and poise on the ball unsettled tiring opponents late on against Tunisia and he forced England’s corner from which Harry Kane scored the stoppage-time winner. All five of his caps have been gained since last November, though he worked extensively with Southgate in the under-21s.

“I like playing on the big stage, so making my debut at Wembley against Germany, the world champions, just made me really excited,” added Loftus-Cheek, who has taken on a personal fitness programme, including yoga, to ease the back problems that had also threatened to hamper his development. “I knew Gareth from the under-21s but senior football is a step up. You have to prove yourself at the highest club level to have a chance of getting called up. I have done that.”