Chelsea Transfer Rumors: Blues Keen on Reinforcing Squad in Key Area To Ease Burden on $276 Million Duo

Chelsea loves spending on players, and they are planning to go big once again in the summer. They are reportedly plotting to sign a midfielder, despite having $276 million to spend on every game.

Chelsea Grow Frustrated With Romeo Lavia

The Athletic is reporting that the FIFA Club World Cup champions are frustrated by Romeo Lavia’s fitness issues. They plan to sign a replacement for the Belgian at the end of the season, should he remain sidelined for the remainder of the campaign.

Simon Johnson has written in the latest edition of The Transfer DealSheet, saying that the central midfield area has become a focus for the Blues despite having the likes of Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez.

They want to ease the burden on the duo, but are not happy with the options of Andrey Santos and Dario Essugo as the backups. He wrote:

“In terms of the positions they are concentrating on for the first team in the summer, central midfield has become a priority due to Romeo Lavia’s injury issues. The Belgium international has made just 30 appearances since joining from Southampton for £50 million in August 2023.”

Lavia spent just one season at Southampton after moving from Manchester City, making 34 appearances across all competitions. He has played just 30 times in two-and-a-half seasons at Stamford Bridge, amassing 1341 minutes, which is 1,000 minutes fewer than he managed at his previous club in one season.

READ MORE: Chelsea Transfer Rumors: Blues Interested in Signing $35 Million Worth Ex-Real Madrid Centre-Back

Manager Enzo Maresca spoke about Lavia’s latest injury in November, admitting that he was ‘ashamed’ about it, as it was a fresh injury. He reported that it was not the usual hamstring issue that had kept the Belgian out and said (via GOAL):

“We feel very ashamed, especially for him, because he’s not able to be fit for a long, long period. It’s not a recurrence of his hamstring problem; it looks like a quad injury. We’ll need to assess him further, but it doesn’t look good.”

“The main target for Romeo now is to be fit. Don’t get any injuries. For me, at this moment, Romeo is where Reece [James] was one year ago, coming back after a long period out. We need to manage him every minute, every day, every second. The target is to keep him fit and help him enjoy football again.”

Lavia is yet to score for Chelsea in all competitions, while his only goal for Southampton came against the Blues. He has managed to play just 240 minutes in his seven appearances this season, 105 of them coming in the four Premier League starts.

Maresca’s side have been linked with Elliot Anderson and Adam Wharton, who are also targets for all top Premier League sides.