Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has bemoaned the ‘sad situation’ involving Romeo Lavia after the midfielder was ruled out for the rest of the Premier League season.
Lavia has endured a nightmare time since arriving at Chelsea from Southampton in a £58m deal last summer with the Belgian having featured for just 32 minutes in all competitions after an injury-hit campaign.
The 20-year-old’s latest setback will sideline him until next season and Pochettino admits it is frustrating for the club and player to have Lavia unavailable.
“Of course he’s not happy because he has only played 30 minutes as a new player for the club,” Pochettino said at his pre-match press conference ahead of facing Burnley.
“It’s a shame but sometimes these things happen in football.
“We haven’t had the chance to train with him so it’s really sad because we will have to wait until next season for him to be available again.
“I can’t fully explain his injury because I am not a doctor,” the Argentine continued.
“The most important thing to make clear is that in nine months, he’s only been training with us for a few weeks. He arrived but he could not train because when the club signed him he was injured.
“Then when he started to train with us he got a knock and a serious injury. Then he came back to training with us and was available so he played against Crystal Palace. He then got injured and has never since returned to training.
“It’s just a sad situation and I hope that he can become stronger from it. We will help him as much as we can.”
