Chelsea have been handed a major injury blow after Romeo Lavia was ruled out for the rest of the season.
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.
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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 September courtesy of an ankle ligament injury sustained during the first international break of the season.
How could Pochettino and Chelsea handle the situation?
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While Chelsea are well-stocked for midfielders, Pochettino has rarely had all of them available at the same time, instead being overly-reliant on the likes of Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez and Conor Gallagher.
Lesley Ugochukwu, as well as Lavia, were initially regarded as backup for the trio, with Carney Chukwuemeka missing the majority of the campaign through injury.
As it stands, Chukwuemeka is building his fitness ahead of receiving more first-team minutes, and although Ugochukwu has been absent since December with a hamstring injury, he is close to a return.
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Meanwhile, Pochettino has the option of using Cesare Casadei, who has featured for just 17 minutes across three substitute outings since returning from a loan stint with Leicester City. That could change with a start against Burnley on Saturday, should Fernandez drop down to the substitutes' bench after playing for Argentina in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The injury to Lavia may result in loan opportunities being assessed for 2024-25 in order to gain regular action. Chelsea could also benefit from receiving a loan fee and getting his wages off their outgoings as they bid to comply with the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules.
Darren Plant
