Chelsea dealt Romeo Lavia injury boost ahead of Nottingham Forest after cryptic message sent

Romeo Lavia is back on the grass at Cobham as he continues to undergo a rehabilitation programme following the latest setback in a year of injuries. The Chelsea midfielder only made one substitute appearance in December before being ruled out for the rest of the campaign just two months later, and is now targeting a summer of regaining fitness.

After his summer move from Southampton worth over £55million, Lavia has been one of multiple players to see their season derailed through injury. Both Reece James and Ben Chilwell have been missing for large portions whilst Christopher Nkunku missed the opening four months and then another three after Christmas. Wesley Fofana has not played at all.

For Lavia it followed a disjointed pre-season in which he was at the centre of mass speculation having been targeted by Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United before Chelsea came in late to push a deal through. He didn't get himself up to speed under Russell Martin as is normal with an expected move to come and then had to sit out his first weeks at Cobham in an individual programme.

By December he was deemed ready to make his debut under Mauricio Pochettino after numerous problems had seen him sidelined. The positivity was short-lived though and within a week a new issue had emerged. He hasn't played since and was ruled out for the remainder of matches before the end of March.

Now, as he is pictured out running at the Surrey-based training complex, Lavia has sent a message of strength. In a post on Twitter/X as well as his Instagram story he included an image of himself in full flow, writing, "stoicism...[person praying and wind emojis]".

Lavia will be hoping to get himself into shape ahead of the pre-season tour of America in July. Pochettino has committed himself to helping the Belgian prodigy get through this unfortunate series of events.

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"Yes, it's really difficult situation for him," he said earlier this season. "He's sad. He's not happy because he only plays 30 minutes. For a new player arriving at the club.

"It's a thing that sometimes happens in football. When the club signed him, he arrived with problems from Southampton. He could not train with us in the first months. When he started to be ready to prepare, he suffered a problem in his feet.

"And then he recovered, played only 30 minutes and got injured. From December, we didn't have the possibility to train with him because he was never available or really close. After December, four months, never we had the possibility to train with him. Really sad news."

The 52-year-old continued: "Different problem. It's difficult to explain because I am not a doctor. In nine months, only a few weeks he was with us, training with us and the most important thing is that he arrives and he cannot train because when the club signed him he was injured. And then when he started to train with us he suffered a knock in his feet.

"After he was training with us for a few weeks he was available against Wolves but didn't go in and played against Crystal Palace and then got injured in his quad.

"Then he has never had the opportunity to train with us. He's sad. It's a sad situation, no? I hope he can become stronger. For sure, we are going to help him become stronger and be available for the pre-season."