Chelsea star set to miss Newcastle United clash - won’t make Premier League debut until December

Chelsea midfielder Romeo Lavia will be out of action until late-November, meaning he will likely miss their clash with Newcastle United at St James’ Park. That game, scheduled to take place on the weekend of November 25, may come too early for the Belgian international who is still waiting to make his Premier League debut for the Blues after joining from Southampton in the summer.

If, as reported by the Daily Mail, Lavia isn’t able to recover from his ankle injury by the time Chelsea make the trip to Tyneside, he will have been at the club for over three months without making a single appearance for them. Much like Moises Caicedo, who joined Chelsea from Brighton during the summer window, Lavia had tremendous interest in his services during the transfer window and was wanted by Liverpool - before he made the switch to Stamford Bridge.

Newcastle United were briefly linked with a move for the former Saints man during the early part of the summer window, however, they opted to sign Sandro Tonali from AC Milan instead. The Magpies did add Lavia’s former Southampton teammate Tino Livramento to their ranks during the summer, parting with £40m to sign the England Under-21 international from St Mary’s.

Chelsea’s trip to Newcastle next month will be their first match back following November’s international break, the penultimate international period of the season with the final one scheduled in mid to late March ahead of next summer’s European Championships.