Romeo Lavia believes the 2024-25 season will be his “first proper season” with Chelsea after an injury-hit first campaign.
The 20-year-old joined the Blues from Southampton for £53million last summer but managed just 32 minutes in a single Premier League appearance after struggling to shake off a thigh issue.
But Lavia, a product of Manchester City’s academy, started all six of Chelsea’s pre-season games under new manager Enzo Maresca and is now ready for a fresh start in West London.
“This will be my first proper season. It was hard. You’re young. You want to play,” the midfielder said during an interview with MailOnline.
“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,”
The one-cap Belgium international added to the BBC: “It’s [injuries have] never been a problem. Even with the injuries last season, it was tough but what can you do? Turn it into a positive.
“I’d say that it was unlucky and I tried to catch up every time. My body let me down a couple of times.”
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— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) August 11, 2024
Lavia was the subject of a dramatic transfer tug-of-war 12 months ago, with the highly-rated playmaker seemingly on his way to Liverpool before Chelsea hijacked the deal.
But the Belgian insists his mind was always set on picking Stamford Bridge over Anfield.
He said: “It was a no-brainer. The interest from Liverpool was there but in my head I wanted to play for Chelsea.”
And on opting to depart City for Southampton a year earlier, Lavia said: “It was not a hard decision simply because I felt I was ready to play.
“I had a good conversation with the manager [Pep Guardiola] at the time and he said: ‘Listen, you’re young and you need to develop.’ He was honest about it.
“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.”
