Chelsea midfielder to miss rest of season after injury setback
After his standout first year at Southampton, Lavia was attracting widespread interest in his signature during the summer.
Ultimately, Chelsea won the race for the Belgium international's services, with the expectation being that the youngster would be handed regular minutes by head coach Mauricio Pochettino.
However, a disastrous first campaign at Stamford Bridge for Lavia has now been capped off by the 20-year-old remaining sidelined for the closing two months of 2023-24.
Lavia had been working towards making a return to action for the first time since suffering a thigh injury on his debut against Crystal Palace in December.
Recent updates have not necessarily been forthcoming, yet the belief was that the former Manchester City academy player could feature during the run-in.
Instead, Chelsea released a statement on Wednesday afternoon, saying: «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."
That development now means that Lavia — who cost £53m — will end the campaign having only spent 32 minutes, plus added-on time, on the pitch.
During the aforementioned extra minutes against Palace, Lavia was visibly struggling but saw out the game, helping Chelsea record a morale-boosting 2-1 win.
Nevertheless, it has come at a cost, and the West Londoners will now get no return on the excessive fee that they shelled out in August.
Lavia had previously been absent from early in
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