News
Chelsea Boss ‘Worried’ About Lavia’s Injury Setback

Following his four-month absence due to an ankle injury, Romeo Lavia’s setback has Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino acknowledging that he is “worried”.
Midweek, Lavia sustained an injury during his Chelsea team’s 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace. Following his August arrival from Southampton, the £58 million ($73.7 million) summer acquisition participated in the last 32 minutes of the match at Stamford Bridge despite being injured. Although Pochettino, the manager, now acknowledges that he is worried about the 19-year-old, he thought the midfielder’s problem wasn’t serious.
READ ALSO: Chelsea Have Hit ‘Bottom’ In One Key Area – Pochettino
The Argentine said on Friday: “He [Lavia] feels something, some issue. We need to check and hope it’s not [bad]. I’m a little bit worried. I don’t know, because if you were watching the game [against Crystal Palace] you cannot appreciate I was changing the position with Lavia at the end because he was struggling to run. We will see what is going on. Hopefully it is not a big issue and he can play with us again. Important player that will recover and it is going to be a shame if we cannot use him in the next few games.”
Lavia was part of Chelsea’s huge summer spending spree, alongside Moises Caicedo, Christopher Nkunku, Cole Palmer, Axel Disasi, Nicolas Jackson and more. But the Belgian international has played just a matter of minutes and some of their other signings have not hit the ground running as hoped. If Lavia is injured once again, that is a big blow for the Blues.
Chelsea will open 2024 at home against Preston North End on January 6 and travel to Middlesbrough three days later in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, after their journey to Kenilworth Road on Saturday for their final game of 2023.