Chelsea manager Pochettino: Lavia in really difficult situation

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has spoken about the morale of Romeo Lavia.

With the midfielder learning he will be out of action until the summer, fans may have been concerned about his state of mind.

Pochettino told reporters: "It's a really difficult situation for him, of course. He is sad, he is not happy because he only played 30 minutes. For a new player arriving at the club, it's a thing that sometimes happen in football. When the club signed him, he arrived with problems from Southampton.

"If you remember, he cannot train with us in the first months. And then when he started to be ready to prepare, he suffered a problem in his feet. Then when he recovered, he played only 30 minutes, got injured, and from December, we didn't have the possibility to train with him. He was never available for training, he was never really close.

"That is the thing in the last few months, after December, that we never had the possibility to train with him. Yes, really sad news because always a new player who arrives at the club, he wants to play, to perform, to help the team and now we need to wait until the pre-season and the next season for him to be available and help the team."

He then added on whether it is the same injury as before: "No, it's a different problem. It's difficult to explain the situation because I am not a doctor and be precise with the information. The most important thing is to make clear that in nine months, only a few weeks he was with us, training with us.

"He arrived and he could not train. When the club signed him, he was injured... I think it was his hip, or I don't know, that was the problem. Then when he started to train with us, he suffered a knock in his feet.

"After he was training with us for a few weeks, he was available against Wolverhampton but he didn't go in, and then against Crystal Palace he played 30 minutes and got injured in his quad and never again had the possibility to train with us.

"I don't know, you showed me, 'the methods of Pochettino are so hard', no? But he didn't train with me. He is sad. It is a sad situation. We hope he can become stronger and for sure, we are going to help him to become stronger and be available for the pre-season and the next season to show his quality."