Chelsea FC just cannot catch a break! The 2023-24 season is young, but it is already shaping up to be just as injury-riddled (if not worse) than 2022-23. Romeo Lavia, who just completed a £58m move from Southampton late last month has now suffered an ankle injury, which is believed to be a muscular issue, perhaps even a tear.
It happened on the training ground while the club is off from competition due to the international break.
??? Romeo Lavia just got injured at training session today with #ChelseaFC.
?? Could be a muscle tear at the ankle… More to follow. #CFC #DiablesRouges— Sacha Tavolieri (@sachatavolieri) September 8, 2023
Lavia has yet to feature for the Blues, with manager Mauricio Pochettino telling the media, ahead of the shock loss to Nottingham Forest, how the player first needs to build up his match fitness before he takes to the pitch. Well, now Lavia has much bigger problems than that.
He’ll head to the treatment room, where he’ll join a very long list.
It includes Reece James, Benoit Badiashile, Armando Broja and Trevoh Chalobah who are all out with thigh/hamstring injuries. Meanwhile Christopher Nkunku, Carney Chukwuemeka, Wesley Fofana and Armando Broja are all in various stages of recovery from some kind of serious knee injury.
Elsewhere Mykhailo Mudryk and Marcus Bettinelli have also been missing time due to unspecified issues. Not much, okay, not anything is known about a potential timeline for Romeo Lavia to return, until scans are done and we see the results of those.
Chelsea return to action with a league road fixture at AFC Bournemouth a week from Sunday.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
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