Chelsea dealt worst injury of the season without realising as £280m solution in jeopardy

Romeo Lavia is the forgotten man at Chelsea. He is 18 months into his career with the club but has still only made 13 appearances in total. Nine of those have been starts and three have ended early due to injury worries.

Despite his breakout at Southampton coming in the final weeks of Thomas Tuchel’s time as Chelsea manager – back in September 2022 – Lavia is only 40 league matches down. It is almost ironic to remember that after scoring and bossing the midfield on that day, a 2-1 defeat for Chelsea, he had to go off and then missed over two months with a hamstring problem.

The four league 90s he played prior to that are among just 14 he has made in a senior portfolio now three years deep. He is yet to complete a full match for Chelsea.

Yet, when Lavia has featured for Enzo Maresca, because his 32 minutes on the field for Mauricio Pochettino aren’t worth analysing, he has been bright. Lavia brings a blend of dribbling and passing that nobody in the Chelsea midfield has.

Moises Caicedo is a passing freak under pressure but also has more strings to his bow. The Ecuadorian is also the only defensively able body in the centre of the pitch. Lavia has a physical presence which makes him more useful than Enzo Fernandez but there is still a long way to go before he can be considered anything approaching a shield.

Lavia brings a balance to the most expensively assembled midfield trio in the game’s history. He is the £60million answer that allows Caicedo to be more expressive and for Fernandez to do less defending.

It isn’t the sort of functionality that £280million should have but that is a squad-building issue. What is clear is just how important Lavia is within the current options.

Between himself and Wesley Fofana, Chelsea have not recovered from injuries in December. Fofana has left the defence exposed and a lack of cover due to Benoit Badiashile’s own continued absence has complicated matters. In midfield and an already threadbare stock has been running on empty for a while.

Lavia’s recent injury history made entering the season without more senior players in that position a risk. It is one that was taken but has not paid off.

Since going off at half-time in the eventual 4-3 win over Tottenham – Lavia left with his side 2-1 but had been one of the best players on the field – he has played less than an hour in the nine league games to follow. His return was for one start against Bournemouth five matches later and a mixture of rustiness and tiredness again saw the team worse off without him.

It means that between October 27 and December 14, Lavia played seven times for Chelsea and none were defeats. There are four wins in there. After Tottenham, Maresca has won just three league games in nine without Lavia, losing four.

It is too simple and would be unfair to put down the poor form just to Lavia missing. His impact and, if nothing else, just the choice to select him instead of Fernandez or Caicedo, has left a serious void, though.

Chelsea’s midfield is being overrun on a regular basis and there is little spark or way out of areas that Lavia would often glide through. Mathis Amougou, the only January window signing, is not yet ready to be trusted in the Premier League.

Lavia is not due back until the final 10 games of the season, Maresca said earlier this month. Unfortunately for Chelsea, that might be too late. Lavia has been a constant in a lot of the team’s best results this season and his absence is being felt more than was previously thought.

He is another body to rest and rotate with as well as a profile that does not exist elsewhere. If the trend of bad performances and results without him continues then the challenge to get into the top four/five even once he is back might be too much.

Unfortunately, with Lavia’s now plagued last few years it is even more important that he is carefully looked after and not rushed into the fold. That might delay a return more and tempers the force of when he might get up to full speed as well.

It is bad news for Chelsea as his availability came and went without really surprising anyone. Lavia is now a player who must be appreciated on the odd occasion he is fit for selection because building around him is out of the equation for now.

That does not help Maresca in the short or long-term. It is he who must now find a way through the challenging period without someone tailor-made to add impetus to his XI.