Romeo Lavia was finally spotted at a match, but not where you’d expect

On By Vaseline

Chelsea’s Development Squad was in action last night, but it was a weaker team than usual.

The sheer number of children called up to the first team meant that there were some changes to the usual line-up. Alfie Gilchrist and Josh Acheampong would watch the thrilling 5-4 win over Brighton and cheer on their regular colleagues who had played for the first team against Spurs.

Matt Davies-Adams also noted a more surprising presence: that of Romeo Lavia, the £58m signing for the first team to be plagued by injury since joining from Southampton last summer.

We’re guessing that since he’s out for the season and won’t kick a ball in anger until preseason, there’s not much he can do other than watch a few games. And he certainly had a thriller on his hands here. Chelsea advanced from the last 16 play-offs to the quarter-finals, with three goals in extra time after Brighton grabbed an equalizer in the 85th minute.

Romeo Lavia in Cobham.

The poster boy for a disastrous plan

Unfortunately for Lavia, he has rather become the figurehead for the catastrophic signing policy of the past two years. We signed him when we didn’t really need him, we paid a ton for him, then he got injured and didn’t make a single start all year.

But none of that is his fault, and he shouldn’t be blamed personally. Like a few others on this team, he will have to write off this season as if it never happened and start over next year.

It’s good to see him doing things like this, just to show that he’s integrating into the team. It also reminds us how young he is: he must have friends who are still playing at that level.

Onwards and upwards, Romeo. We’ll see you in preseason.