CHELSEA have been dealt a blow for their season run-in after Romeo Lavia was ruled out for the rest of the season.
Lavia, 20, arrived at Stamford Bridge from Southampton in a £58million deal last summer.
However, the highly-rated midfielder has been plagued by injury throughout the season.
And now Lavia is set to miss the remainder of the campaign after suffering a further setback to his recovery.
Lavia has only managed one appearance since swapping the south coast for west London.
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That one appearance came as a substitute against Crystal Palace in December, when he sustained a thigh injury having only just recovered from an ankle issue.
It means he has in fact played just 32 minutes of football for the Blues.
A Chelsea club statement said: "Recent medical assessments have confirmed that Lavia, who sustained a significant thigh injury against Crystal Palace back in December, will not feature again this season."
Manager Mauricio Pochettino seems to rate the former Manchester City academy star very highly.
At the start of March, Pochettino blamed the absence of players such as Lavia for not being able to play a more aggressive system.
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He said: "We needed to provide the midfield the possibility not to cover too much distance. [Conor] Gallagher didn’t start against Leeds because he was very, very tired.
"Because players like Lavia was supposed to be a very good player, and of course Lesley Ugochukwu.
"They are injured and we don’t have the possibility to refresh players that are in a key area. That is why to help them with another centre-back.
"It’s always keeping our ideas going forward, but to try and provide them with more solid and the differences in transition and gives them more freedom and not too much responsibility."
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Lavia impressed at Southampton last season, making 35 appearances in all competitions.
