Chelsea fear £60m summer signing could miss 6 weeks due to ankle injury - Reports

Chelsea have been handed a fresh injury blow as new signing Romeo Lavia is set to spend some time on the sidelines. The £60 million midfielder could reportedly be out for up to six weeks.

As per a report in Daily Mail, Lavia has seen his Chelsea debut get pushed further back. He has suffered an ankle injury and will now miss the next few weeks.

Lavia recently joined training for the first time since joining from Southampton and looked set to join the first team after the international break.

The midfielder is now only expected back in training late in October. That could be a good time for him to return since Chelsea face a daunting fixture list during that period. They are scheduled to face Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham, Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester United in consecutive weeks.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino spoke about Lavia earlier this season and said:

"Lavia no [not ready to start]. He needs a few weeks to be ready to be involved with the team. He is working to try and catch his team-mates. For Romeo we need to wait a few weeks."

Lavia joins Marcus Bettinelli, Trevoh Chalobah, Carney Chukwuemeka, Wesley Fofana, and Christopher Nkunku on the sidelines.

Romeo Lavia rejected Liverpool to join Chelsea

Liverpool were keen on signing Romelo Lavia earlier this summer but instead opted to make a late move for Moises Caicedo. The Reds' sudden change in mind saw the Belgian opt to go ahead with the offer from Chelsea. He reportedly rejected a move to Anfield despite Jurgen Klopp's side making a bigger bid than the Blues.

Speaking to the Blues' official website after joining, Lavia said:

"I'm really happy join Chelśea and be a part of this exciting project. It's an amazing football club with a great history and I'm really excited to get started. I can't wait to meet all my new team-mates and build a chemistry together to achieve great things together."

He added:

"Three factors determined my decision. The project and the ambitions of the club were key factors in me choosing Chelśea, but also the history behind the club. It's really exciting to be a part of this football club and to write some history.

"I'm really happy and proud. It's a privilege to be able to put on this shirt. Most of the players we've signed are players I've played against, and thought 'ooooof, these players are good', so to be able to work with them is a great feeling. They are young players and good players, so it will be good to make each other better. That's the only way to succeed."

Manchester City had a £40 million buy-back clause in Lavia's contract that was to come into effect next year. However, his move to Stamford Bridge has seen that removed but the Premier League champions pocketed 20% of the fee thanks to a sell-on clause.