Chelsea midfielder Romeo Lavia says he is finally reaping the rewards of his hard work, feeling "free" again and determined to "change the narrative" around him. Now 22, the Belgian is on the verge of enjoying his longest spell in the Chelsea side and, if he completes 60 minutes against Brentford on Friday, will surpass his previous best run of 518 minutes without injury - including pre-season matches. Such progress has been some time in the making.
Lavia made only one appearance in his first season at Chelsea because of a serious hamstring injury. In his second campaign, he suffered a series of setbacks and missed 33 games, down from 42 the previous season, before significantly improving his availability last term by featuring in about half of Chelsea's matches. He has now remained available throughout pre-season and the opening weeks of the new campaign.
"There is so much that goes on behind the scenes," Lavia told BBC Sport - adding that he has a checklist he likes to tick off to ensure he is in the best condition for any given match. "It's a big process but we're doing well at the moment." It has been about overcoming the mental toll of repeated setbacks, but also avoiding becoming risk-averse - with manager Xabi Alonso encouraging Lavia to overcome the "mental block" of completing 90 minutes during a pre-season match against AC Milan in August. "I've learned you can always go further than you think you can.
You can always push your limits, especially when you feel like everything is going against you," he said. "It's always easy to think about giving up, or to feel that whatever you do will take you back to the same point where you started. "But luckily, with the help of team-mates, staff, everyone at the club and people close to me outside football, we've been able to create a sort of bubble where you concentrate only on what you can control." With Reece James and Wesley Fofana having come through similar injury setbacks, Lavia is keen to become the latest Chelsea player to rewrite his story.
He has become a regular in Alonso's midfield alongside captain James, who began his career as a right-back. Lavia's importance has only increased, with Moises Caicedo limited to 14 minutes this season and Enzo Fernandez having left for Manchester City in a £125m transfer on deadline day. He added: "It's part of my game as well to take responsibility and have some character.
I really like being in that position and also being at this club. Having this responsibility, it's not even pressure, it's just like privilege, so I'm actually living the dream. "This is why you've been playing and training all these years for, so just go and enjoy it." He speaks of having the "love" of his team-mates, while Chelsea have publicly and privately backed Lavia to become a key player despite an injury-hit couple of seasons.
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