Romeo Lavia is sat in the Ritz-Carlton in Charlotte, North Carolina, discussing the season that never happened.
He did not injure his ankle after arriving at Chelsea from Southampton for £53million. He did not return in December, only to pick up a thigh problem after managing 32 minutes against Crystal Palace. He did not then miss the remainder of that campaign as a result.
Never happened. Because for Lavia, this is a fresh start, the beginning of his first full season with Chelsea. ‘Dream season is not to miss any games,’ he says when asked by Mail Sport. ‘That's it.’
The 20-year-old is at peace with what happened in that first year and is now looking forwards, not backwards.
Lavia was the only Chelsea player to start all six of their pre-season friendlies – five in the United States and one at Stamford Bridge – with the deep-lying midfielder impressing as Enzo Maresca’s most trustworthy performer ahead of the visit of his former club Manchester City this Sunday in the Premier League.
Romeo Lavia is keen to play a role in Chelsea's upcoming season after being severely sidelined
Having missed out on almost all of the previous Premier League season through injury, Lavia impressed in pre-season
New Blues manager Enzo Maresca clearly views the starlet as an important presence in his side
‘This will be my first proper season,’ Lavia says. ‘It was hard. You're young. You want to play. You're getting to know your body, which is sometimes unfair because you feel like you're doing everything right to get back but nature sometimes decides in a different way. I wouldn't blame anything.
‘I take all the hard times in a positive way. I left my home country to move to England during Covid. My mum never watched a game of me at City.
‘But I never really complained because I knew what I was getting into. The same in every decision I've made. It's never been a problem. Even with the injuries last season, it was tough but what can you do? Turn it into a positive.’
Lavia was in the Anderlecht academy when Pep Guardiola visited for the KDB Cup, named after Kevin De Bruyne. ‘The crowd was going crazy,’ he recalls of their visit. ‘I was aware of them being there.’ He was 15 and soon transferred to City, where he trained under Maresca while he was manager of the Elite Development Squad prior to assisting Guardiola.
Lavia previously featured under Maresca when he was part of Man City's development squad
At 18 the player booked a move to Southampton were he quickly became a top-club target
At 18, he was sold to Southampton for £10.5m in July 2022. Eight weeks later, Chelsea tried to sign him from his new club with a cheeky deadline day bid worth £50m after he had scored against them in a 2-1 win at St Mary’s Stadium. They failed, but it underlines how long those at Stamford Bridge have been interested in his services.
‘It was not a hard decision simply because I felt I was ready to play,’ he says of leaving City. ‘I had a good conversation with the manager (Guardiola) and he said, “Listen, you're young and you need to develop.” He was honest. I felt like I could play and it was just about looking for the best opportunities to get to that stage as fast as possible.’
On that cheeky offer from Chelsea, he adds: ‘You don't really think about it because I wanted to prove myself in the Premier League first and see what I could do. I wasn't really thinking about anything else. I had objectives for that season and everything else was irrelevant.’
When Chelsea eventually secured their long-term target in August 2023, he also had the option of signing for Liverpool. ‘You've never had my version,’ Lavia explains. ‘It's all about what you read in the media. Sometimes you knew more than me apparently! Listen, when I heard about Chelsea and it was from a long time ago before everything started, it was a no-brainer. The interest from Liverpool was there but in my head, I wanted to play for Chelsea.’
Lavia was a fan-favourite at St Mary's but he left in 2023 after long-term interest from Chelsea
The London side were able to outfox Premier League rivals Liverpool in a bid for his signature
Why was it a no-brainer? ‘If you look at all the teams, Chelsea is the one that is growing,’ he answers. ‘You can see the bigger picture. When I saw a group of young, talented players that at their previous clubs had been the best players, it can only go well. Now I'm here, I realise it's true.
‘We are building something amazing. Everyone at the club can feel it. Not just the players but everyone. Manchester City and all the teams that have been successful, they needed years to do that. I'm not saying we need the same years but it's definitely going to take time.’
Lavia completed his first full match in more than a year in Chelsea’s 4-2 loss to City in pre-season. There was one moment in which he won the ball, was left on his backside, got up and played a 50-yard ball in behind for Noni Madueke to score. That was Lavia in a nutshell – a playmaker from deep – and he is looking forward to facing his old employers at Stamford Bridge this weekend.
Yet even when Lavia excels, he tries not to believe his own hype. If he ever needs advice on how to handle it all, he picks up the phone to Eden Hazard, who he calls his ‘big brother’.
When Lavia needs support he reaches out to his Belgian compatriot - Blues icon Eden Hazard
20-year-old has stressed that his dream season enjoys staying injury free most importantly
‘I'm not a striker but if you score a hat-trick, you're happy about it the whole week,’ he says. ‘But you have to score in the next one. It's the same in my position. You cannot be complacent and think you're there yet because in the next game, it could just catch up to you. The Premier League is rough.’
Lavia was so influential at Southampton that when Nathan Jones substituted him after 65 minutes at Brentford in February 2023, it prompted cries of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ from the Saints support. That turned out to be Jones’s last away game before he was sacked.
They adored him at Southampton. Chelsea’s fans haven’t had the chance to fall in love with him yet, but Lavia plans on changing that next season.