Ruben Loftus-Cheek a doubt for World Cup as Crystal Palace star may need surgery on ankle injury

Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s World Cup dream could be in doubt because of an ankle injury.

The midfielder may need surgery on a tendon problem which would put his hopes of representing England this summer in danger.

Loftus-Cheek, on loan at Crystal Palace from Chelsea, has been out for three weeks and the injury is worse than first feared.

Initial treatment has not resolved the issue and Palace manager Roy Hodgson has revealed Loftus-Cheek might require an operation which would be a huge setback for the the 21-year-old.

​Hodgson hopes Loftus-Cheek would be able to play again this season even if he does go under the knife but surgery would leave his hopes of going to the World Cup in doubt.

Loftus-Cheek shone on his England debut against Germany at Wembley in November and many felt that performance had earned him a place in Gareth Southgate’s squad for Russia.

The Chelsea and Palace medical departments are working together but Hodgson admits he does not know when Loftus-Cheek will be back.

Hodgson said: “The injury is more severe than we first thought it would be. It is to do with the tendons at the back of his ankle.

“It has not responded to the conservative treatment of rest that he has been having. The treatment has to continue along this conservative line and then in a matter of a few weeks’ time we will assess it again. If it is still not working by that time it will be five or six weeks since he last played against Arsenal. If it goes beyond that we will be into a situation where people will have to look at it in and see if we need a stronger intervention.”

Asked if Loftus-Cheek will need surgery on the injury, Hodgson said: “It may. His treatment is being handled by doctors at the two clubs. They are liaising and making the decisions. We obviously misled you initially by saying all he needed was to miss a couple games and rest from training and he would be fine. That is what we honestly believed. But it has turned out not to be the case.

“We do not know how long it would take after the surgery to get him fit again. I would be disappointed, surgery or no surgery, if he is not playing before the end of the season. We certainly want him to be and I would presume Chelsea would want him to be because they would like to have a player who is going to be selected for England.

“But there is nothing we can do about it. The only way he can make himself available for Crystal Palace or England is to be fit. At the moment that is not the case and he is not fit.”