Enzo Maresca believes Chelsea have badly missed the presence of £53m midfielder Romeo Lavia during a mixed Premier League season.
Lavia, 21, helped Chelsea beat newly-crowned Premier League champions Liverpool 3-1 at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
The Belgian was praised by the likes of Gary Neville and Jamie Redknapp following Chelsea’s victory and Maresca was equally as impressed by a player the club signed from Southampton in 2023.
Maresca believes Chelsea are a ‘better team’ with Lavia in it and ‘hopes’ thehighly-rated midfielder manages to stay fit following a difficult couple of years with injuries.
Lavia only made one appearance for Chelsea during his first season at the club and has started just ten of the club’s 35 league games this term due to various injury setbacks.
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‘Unfortunately he has been injured for most part of the season,’ Maresca said after Chelsea’s victory over Liverpool.
‘You can see that the team with Romeo in is a better team. Hopefully we can now keep him fit until the end [of the season].’
Discussing Lavia, Manchester United legend Neville added on Sky Sports: ‘I like Romeo Lavia a lot.
‘He needs to stay fit. I think if he can get a season under his belt, he can be Enzo Maresca’s number one midfield player.
‘He’s a go-to player and he makes a big difference, they’re a better team when he’s in there.’
Chelsea beat Liverpool to a deal for Lavia and the Belgium international was heckled by the travelling fans as he made his way around the pitch after being replaced late on.
The Blues were the better team from the outset of Sunday’s clash with Premier League champions Liverpool, who clinched their 20th English league title last weekend.
Enzo Fernandez put the hosts ahead after just three minutes and Chelsea found themselves 2-0 up when Jarell Quansah scored an own goal.
Virgil van Dijk gave Liverpool hope with a late header but Cole Palmer’s injury-time penalty put the game to bed in a potentially huge win for Chelsea’s Champions League hopes.
‘Very important win at this stage of the season,’ Maresca said.
‘The way they deal with different plans, we didn’t plan the game to defend it, we plan always to be high aggressive, high press and aggressive.
‘They forced us to defend for moments in the game and the players dealt very well with that.’
Discussing Chelsea’s Champions League chances, Maresca added: ‘The win has been important, but it is not done. We need to play three games and go game by game.
‘Now on Thursday we have the second leg – we need to be focused on that and try to reach the European final.’
Chelsea will look to secure Champions League qualification during their final three Premier League fixtures against Newcastle United, Manchester United and Nottingham Forest.
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