Chelsea lose patience with £58million star has Todd Boehly eyes up January deal

Romeo Lavia’s Chelsea nightmare could be set to get worse with club bosses seemingly losing patience with the 20-year-old. Despite appearing on the brink of a move to Liverpool, the Belgian midfielder was signed by the Blues in the summer of 2023 for a £58million fee.

At the time, Lavia was perceived to be a future star of the Premier League, having been one of the few bright spots in Southampton’s relegation campaign the previous season.

However, he’s since managed just four appearances in a Chelsea shirt, having been plagued by ankle and thigh injuries in his debut campaign.

He started a game for the Premier League club for the first time in August in the 2-0 defeat to Manchester City, only for his injury curse to strike again as he picked up a hamstring injury. And according to reports, Todd Boehly is now ready to get his chequebook out again as opposed to waiting for the one-cap international to reach full fitness.

According to Tuttomercatoweb, Chelsea had scouts watching Hellas Verona midfielder Reda Belhayne. The 20-year-old is something of an unknown quantity in Serie A after signing from Nice in January, but has so far impressed in Serie A this season.

His latest commendable showing came in his side’s 2-0 win over Venezia on Friday. And despite being just 20, he’a already perceived to be undroppable in manager Paolo Zanetti’s starting XI.

The former France under-18 international is contracted until 2028, but that is unlikely to perturb Chelsea from a January bid. The Blues have already been handed encouragement to bid, given that Belhayne has openly admitted to modelling his game on a Stamford Bridge icon.

“The number six is that of a midfielder, in my opinion it represents solid players who scratch the ball away from their opponents, but also know how to keep it,” he’s said. “For me it represents my style of play.

“My role model, who sets an example, is outside that on the pitch, he is N’Golo Kante. I really like his team spirit. Even off the pitch he is always calm. But when he goes on the pitch, he has been my example since I was a child.”

Moises Caicedo currently occupies the holding midfielder role at Chelsea, with the Ecuadorian finally showing why the club opted to pay £115m to take him from Brighton. But in the midst of a gruelling fixture schedule that includes a Europa Conference League campaign, Enzo Maresca has already shown his willingness to rotate his squad.

This week the Italian manager did laud the potential of pairing Caiceo and Lavia in midfield, saying: “I’m very excited thinking that soon we can have Moi and Romeo both fit 100 per cent, because I think both together playing that position, they can give us a lot. They can compete for one position and they can play together, for sure.”