Chelsea’s recent spending in the transfer market has followed a strategy of buying anyone that looks promising.
Since the arrival of Todd Boehly, the Blues have spent just over £1bn over four transfer windows, which is far more than any other club in the Premier League.
However, their league position doesn’t reflect that, nor has it justified the heavy spending, with Mauricio Pochettino’s side sitting in tenth place after 25 games.
Chelsea have overspent on plenty of players in recent times, but there’s one player that has seen his value drop significantly in such a short time frame.
How much Chelsea paid for Romeo Lavia
This time last season, Romeo Lavia was regarded as one of the most exciting prospects in the Premier League, with his former coach, Arno van den Abbeel, saying:
“I think in that position (holding midfielder), he is one of the best in the world of his age group."
Southampton signed the Belgian star from Manchester City in the summer of 2022 in a deal worth £14.5m, and in his first Premier League season, he started 26 matches, but he was unable to help inspire his side to safety.
With the Saints succumbing to relegation, plenty of clubs were interested in snapping up the 20-year-old after his incredible debut season, with Liverpool being the main competitor to Chelsea.
However, his time at Chelsea hasn’t exactly gone according to plan thus far, and not because of his own doing.
Lavia’s current market value
Last summer, Chelsea spent a huge £58m to secure the services of Lavia after the 5 foot 11 midfielder had the experience of just one season. However, he hasn’t even had the chance to live up to that price tag.
The former Citizen has featured in just two matchday squads all season, with the defensive midfielder playing just 40 minutes of football, which came in Chelsea’s 2-1 home victory over Crystal Palace.
Injuries have completely ruined his start to life under the Argentine, picking up four of them already. This has seen him miss 26 matches this season, with his return against the Eagles being tarnished by another long injury that hasn’t seen him feature since.
23/24
Unknown
11
23/24
Fitness
5
23/24
Ankle
10
23/24
Muscle tear
0
22/23
Hamstring
10
These setbacks and his lack of action on the field have caused his estimated worth to fall off a cliff, to the point where he’s now valued at around €15m (13m), according to CIES Football Observatory – £45m less than what Chelsea paid for him just last summer.
However, the club did overpay for the Belgium international originally, as just two months before his arrival, he was estimated to be worth €32m (£27m) – as per Transfermarkt – which is less than half of what they paid for him.
This has arguably been an even worse deal than the signing Mykhaylo Mudryk, with the Ukrainian still said to be worth around €60m (£52m), after signing for roughly £88.5m last year.
Although the costly winger is perhaps seen as Chelsea's biggest flop and for being "absolutely useless," as per talkSPORT's Gabriel Agbonlahor, he has at least contributed this season to some degree – unlike Lavia – with four goals and three assists in all competitions.
Market Movers
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In truth, it’s incredibly difficult and even harsh to judge the former Saints prospect based on his time at Chelsea, but from the Blues perspective, it has been a hugely unsuccessful signing so far. Fingers crossed that this is just a run of bad luck for Lavia, and his career isn’t hindered by injuries.
