Ruben Loftus-Cheek described his World Cup call-up as surreal, and there have been plenty of times in the recent past when he would have considered the chance coming his way this summer the stuff of fantasy. He could point to the plateauing of his senior career on the fringes at Chelsea or, having joined the club’s considerable loan army, the trauma of Crystal Palace’s appalling start to last season. Then there was the three-month hiatus in mid-winter as an ankle injury checked the momentum generated by regular game time.

Thoughts of Russia must have been distant as he listened to Roy Hodgson attempt to lift spirits after a 5-0 drubbing at Manchester City in September or as he embarked on that lonely spell of rehabilitation in January. It is testament to his character that a player capped for the first time last November, with a commanding debut against Germany, has regained his place in Gareth Southgate’s squad on the back of considerable potential and six eye-catching performances over the final seven weeks of term.

“I am ready for it,” he said of the World Cup. “I’m not one to bow under immense pressure. I know how to deal with it. As a youth player growing up and playing for England you deal with it then and get used to it. You just carry on into the bigger stages and it has become natural to me. Playing at the World Cup stage excites me.” So much for the shirt weighing heavy.

Loftus-Cheek’s self-assurance is remarkable for a player who, at 22, has only 27 Premier League starts to his name – his last for Chelsea in April 2016 under Guus Hiddink – but is born of the challenges he has overcome. The academy at Cobham had considered him a poster boy, a powerhouse who joined aged eight with the world at his feet. José Mourinho had him training more regularly with the seniors at 17. “I was in awe,” he recalled of initial brushes with the first team. “I remember Didier Drogba being there for my first session.

“I’d watched him on TV score so many goals and there I was, still so young, getting that nervous feeling. The thing that struck me was the physicality of it all but also the speed of play. The understanding of the game, knowing the next pass, the opposition ... that is often what sets the top level apart. Training with the first team, you obviously toughen up through the physicality but your speed of thought improves – it has to. You need to know the next pass and what you want to do.

“I’d been at Chelsea for a while and progressed quite quickly until I got to the first team, and then it was different. I was used to playing every minute of every game but when you get to that level the step up is massive. There are world-class players in front of you and, no matter how talented you are, breaking in is difficult. I improved a lot with the training, because the coaches and the facilities are the best, so I grew as a youth player in the academy. But I do think when I got to that 17-18 stage ... maybe looking back now, I realise the benefits of playing game after game. Maybe I could have gone out on loan sooner. In that sense I wish I had played more games.”

At Palace he grew, particularly in an unbeaten end-of-season run. Opponents virtually bounced off him when he marauded up-field, unable to rob him of the ball. His blend of deceptive pace, fearsome power and no little skill had Hodgson declaring him a player “without any weaknesses”.

Southgate would like to see him charging into the box and shooting more. The calmness of his finish against Leicester last month was an indication he can become a more regular scorer.

Chelsea will use him more regularly next season, when it would be politically unacceptable to farm him out again on loan. He made only six substitute appearances under Antonio Conte in the title-winning campaign. “But for me to be around a squad of winners was good, so I could analyse and see the dynamics of the squad and the team,” he said. “Then to be at Palace, who struggled at the start of the season, and see how my team-mates reacted when they were not doing so well. In the future I’ll know what is needed to get out of a situation like that.

“I’m not afraid of any competition. I’m not going to be intimidated by any player or team. That is fundamental in football if you want to do well. I will take that mindset into the World Cup.” His chance has come, and he is not one to let that opportunity pass him by.