Walcott ‘worried’ £53m Chelsea man ‘won’t be seen’ by Maresca with ‘lower-league loan’ inevitable

Arsenal hero Theo Walcott believes Romeo Lavia could become “one of those Chelsea players that will just be gone, and you won’t hear much about”.

Walcott played with Lavia at Southampton for one year after he was signed from Manchester City for £14million.

The 20-year-old was superb for the Saints in 2022/23 but could not help them avoid relegation from the Premier League.

Following their relegation to the Championship, Southampton cashed in on Lavia, selling him to Chelsea for a reported £53m.

Liverpool tried and failed to sign the Belgian international, who opted to join the Blues’ bat-s**t project instead of playing under Jurgen Klopp.

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Lavia has featured in all six of Chelsea’s pre-season matches under new head coach Enzo Maresca, playing the full 90 minutes against his former club Man City, who the Blues face in the Premier League on Sunday.

His availability this summer will be seen as a huge boost to the Blues after he missed the entire 23/24 campaign, excluding 33 minutes against Crystal Palace last December.

Despite impressing and featuring heavily in pre-season, Lavia’s former Southampton team-mate Walcott is concerned.

The ex-Arsenal forward can see the Belgian falling out of favour under Maresca after Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was signed to compete alongside £100m+ stars Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo.

‘Talented’ Chelsea midfielder in danger of becoming an outcast – Walcott

“He’s a very talented footballer,” Walcott said. “He trained his heart out, probably trained too much. He had a serious injury and obviously missed a whole year.

“There were talks of him going to Chelsea or Liverpool, and I thought, right, as a player, this is perfect. Liverpool would be the perfect club for right now because the midfield was rebuilding at that particular time.

“Players can, of course, make their choice, but as a career path, he’s stagnated a little bit.

“The new manager [Maresca] has come in, he’s brought in Dewsbury-Hall, you’ve got Conor Gallagher – similar players to some extent.

“With the number of players they are signing, good players just won’t get a chance. They just won’t be seen at Chelsea.

“They’ll be sent out on loan to lower league clubs and not appear. I am worried Romeo Lavia will just be one of those Chelsea players that will just be gone, and you won’t hear much about.”

Our very own Will Ford disagrees, saying that out of 45 players, only three are less likely to be banished from first-team training. And yes, they actually have that many players. The boy wrote:

‘Injuries obviously completely wrecked his first season at Chelsea, but he appears to be back in good shape now having been one of Chelsea’s busiest and most impressive performers in pre-season. There will be no banishment here, with Lavia instead seemingly nailed on for ‘like a new signing’ status, which is admittedly less of a compliment at Chelsea than at most clubs given the general trend for how new signings have performed in recent times.’

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