Mauricio Pochettino has named the player who arrived with ‘problems’ when he turned up at Chelsea after joining in the summer transfer window, admitting that the star is ‘sad’ and ‘not happy’.
The Blues went on another huge spending spree ahead of the 2023-24 campaign under co-owner Todd Boehly, splashing out an eye-watering total of £434.5m.
Chelsea paid a British record fee of £115m to bring in Brighton’s Moises Caicedo while the west Londoners signed Lavia from Southampton in a deal worth £58m.
They also spent significant fees on Christopher Nkunku, Cole Palmer, Axel Disasi and Nicolas Jackson, looking to rebuild after a 12th-placed finish in 2022-23.
Not all of their new signings have worked out and it is thought that some of them regret agreeing such long contracts at Stamford Bridge.
The signing of Lavia has been a particular disaster for Chelsea with the midfielder managing just one appearance so far due to problems with injury.
He was ruled out for the remainder of the season this week and Pochettino admits that he had problems with the player as soon as he arrived at the club.
‘It’s really difficult situation for him,’ the Chelsea head coach said on Thursday.
‘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.
‘[It is a] different problem [than the one when he first arrived]. 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.’
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