Chelsea midfielder Romeo Lavia faces season-ending injury setback
Chelsea signed Romeo Lavia in a £53 million deal from Southampton last summer, with the former Manchester City star coming in with ample expectations on his shoulders.
Since his big-money move to Stamford Bridge, the 20-year-old has played just 32 minutes of competitive football, which came against Crystal Palace. Unfortunately, he picked up a thigh injury in his only appearance wearing the Chelsea badge, which once again assured a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Notably, there was a slight delay in his Chelsea debut until the end of last year (December) as he nursed through muscle and ankle injuries. As he was returning to the fold, Lavia had a fresh injury setback that brought down the curtain on his season.
Chelsea Official Statement – Romeo Lavia and his injury woes
Lavia was originally scheduled to return in March, hoping to impress Belgium boss Domenico Tedesco enough to earn himself a Euro 2024 call-up. However, any possibility of a Euro appearance has been taken away with his new setback.
Chelsea confirmed Romeo Lavia’s injury in an official statement:
“Midfielder Romeo Lavia is to unfortunately miss the remainder of our 2023–24 campaign following a setback in his recovery. Recent medical assessments have confirmed that Lavia, who sustained a significant thigh injury against Crystal Palace back in December, will not feature again this season.”
Mauricio Pochettino comments on Romeo Lavia’s season ending injury
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino was quizzed about Romeo Lavia’s season-ending injury ahead of the Blues’ game against Burnley. He spoke about how difficult it has been for the Belgian international and how the club signed him despite injury problems. Speaking in the press, Pochettino said (via. Football.London):
“It’s a really difficult situation for him, of course. He is sad, he is not happy because he only played 30 minutes. For a new player arriving at the club, it’s a thing that sometimes happen in football. When the club signed him, he arrived with problems from Southampton.
“If you remember, he cannot train with us in the first months. And then when he started to be ready to prepare, he suffered a problem in his feet. Then when he recovered, he played only 30 minutes, got injured, and from December, we didn’t have the possibility to train with him. He was never available for training, he was never really close.
“That is the thing in the last few months, after December, that we never had the possibility to train with him. Yes, really sad news because always a new player who arrives at the club, he wants to play, to perform, to help the team and now we need to wait until the pre-season and the next season for him to be available and help the team.”
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Romeo Lavia was tagged as an important part of the ongoing season, and his absence has been felt on the pitch as the Blues continue to struggle in Mauricio Pochettino’s first season at the club. It must be a difficult period for a 20-year-old, especially coming into a new club on the back of a mega-money transfer. This has been a tough period for Lavia as well as for Chelsea.
Now it is important to take the next four months or so and recover in such a way that he is ready when the next season comes. Hopefully, we get to see much more of Romeo Lavia in the 2024–25 season.