Romeo Lavia will be in Chelsea’s squad for their Premier League meeting with Brighton on Saturday, head coach Enzo Maresca has confirmed.
The midfielder missed almost the entirety of last season following a £53m move to the Blues from Southampton due to a thigh injury.
Lavia then impressed over the course of pre-season but saw his progress again derailed by a hamstring issue sustained against Servette in the Conference League.
Maresca, however, confirmed the 20-year-old would be fit for the visit of the unbeaten Seagulls, when he could make only his third Premier League appearance since signing for Chelsea last summer.
“Romeo is available for tomorrow,” said the Blues boss on Friday.
Asked if the Belgian international could start, Maresca added: “We’ll see. We have one more session now and then we’ll decided but the important thing is finally he’s back.”
Reece James, however, will miss the game as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury. James is yet to feature for the Blues this season, having picked up a fresh hamstring problem in preseason after only just returning from surgery at the back end of the previous campaign.
When asked if there was simply no update on the Chelsea captain, Maresca said: “Yeah, exactly.”
Malo Gusto, however, made his return following a knock in the 5-0 Carabao Cup win over Barrow, with his substitution at half-time during that game planned ahead of time.
