(Video): “Let me do a little bit!” – Midfielder jokes about teammate who has stolen his job | OneFootball

Romeo Lavia is one of the best interviews in the Chelsea squad right now. Warm, funny, open, interesting, with perfect English. It’s no surprise that Chelsea TV chose him for the third episode of their “Unlocked” feature from the Club World Cup tour.

Belgian upbringing and early move to City

A lot of the conversation is focused around Lavia’s interesting upbringing – born on the border between the Flemish and Walloon parts of Belgium, then moving to England very young, during Covid no less. It must have been a very tricky and confusing time for a young player in a new country. That makes it all the more impressive how rapid his breakthrough was, first at Manchester City and then Southampton.

He even admits he messaged Cole Palmer (who was one age group above him at the time) asking for advice on getting his big break. Now the two are great friends.

You can see Lavia speaking in the clip embedded here:

Lavia quotes reveal some of his thoughts about his own game

Romeo Lavia being interviewed on Chelsea TV.

The conversation then turned to his style of play, and what it was like being alongside Moises Caicedo:

“Thank God I play next to the absolute destroyer, sometimes he does my job, I’m like ‘let me do a little bit’. He does it for me,” the midfielder joked.

“Moi is unbelievable. I hope I can show some of these skills as well because they’re part of my style of play.”

That’s an interesting take. Often when you call Lavia a defensively minded midfielder you’re told that he’s actually just a passer, but he clearly is proud of the defensive side of his game and wants to show it off more.

That can only be a good thing for Chelsea, who have no shortage of attack minded midfielders in their squad.