The Club is delighted to announce the loan signing of midfielder Luke McCormick from Chelsea F.C. The highly-rated 21-year-old joins Rovers on a season-long loan from the Premier League outfit. A graduate of the Chelsea youth system, McCormick has trained with the Blues since the age of six and has risen through the Chelsea ranks playing alongside the likes of Mason Mount and Trevoh Chalobah. In 2017, the youngster progressed to be a full-time member of the Chelsea Development Squad, featuring in Premier League 2 fixtures and the EFL Trophy, where he grabbed an equalising goal in an encounter against Yeovil in October 2017. A standout moment in the youngster's progression at Chelsea came in UEFA Youth League, as McCormick's captained a young Chelsea in a memorable victory over Qarabag, where the midfielder scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 win. The youngster contributed a tally of eight goals and assists as the Chelsea U19's advanced to the final of UEFA Youth League in the 2017/18 campaign. Last season, McCormick spent a spell on loan with Shrewsbury Town and has featured in Chelsea's U21's opening EFL Trophy fixture against Oxford United earlier this month. On his new midfield addition, Manager Ben Garner said: "We are delighted to welcome Luke to the football club. He is a midfielder that has great energy, is forward thinking & has an eye for goal. Speaking to both the Academy & First team staff at Chelsea it is clear that Luke is highly thought of both as a player and as a character. We would like to thank Chelsea for their cooperation with the loan move and we look forward to Luke helping us this season.”
Bennett and Ogogo should be leaving. So we are back below 10 Striker will surely be the next signing but will not be surprised if we have to wait for someone to leave first. Unfortunately, some on another forum has already written this lad off without actually kicking a ball for us. To have played in Premier League games, you must be ok. But he hasn't even been given a chance.
I was definitely hoping for/expecting our next signing to be a recognised striker, so must admit, this signing caught me a bit unawares. I know next to nothing about his quality or effectiveness etc, but as you say, Chelsea aren't going to invest time and money in donkeys, so I have every hope/confidence that he will prove the doubters wrong, and be a real asset for us. We will see! One plus might be that coming from a Premier league club, he is almost certainly in possession of a good football brain, able to adapt to new formations and fit enough to create space for other people to pass to, or able to play a good ball, when he is in possession. At least we might have one player now that can play the way our manager wants, because there don't seem to be many others in the squad that can fathom it out!
Let's just hope that he is good enough for a permanent first team place, it is so frustrating when the club bring these lads in on loan and they spend most of their time sitting on the timber.
It seems like Luke will be a different kind of midfielder than Abu. He looks more like an attacking midfielder whilst Abu was more like Sinclair - running about and breaking up play. Will be interesting to see how he’s played by Garner. Anyhoo - always good to have a promising PL youngster through the door - let’s hope the next signing is a striker to complement our current forwards.
I like him too. Sometimes you need that type of player. Well worth a place at least on the bench when we need someone to battle.