FC Barcelona have renewed their interest in signing Chelsea midfielder Romeo Lavia after previously missing out on the player to the Blues, according to reports from Spain.
On Wednesday, Spanish newspaper Sport reported that Barcelona's sporting director and former Chelsea midfielder Deco tried to sign Lavia after Southampton were relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2022/23 season.
The publication claims Barca made an official bid for Belgium international, but were unable to match the £58 million Chelsea eventually paid for him.
Now, with Lavia having endured a difficult start to life at Stamford Bridge, Sport report that the Spanish giants are once again interested in the 20-year-old as they want to bolster their options in the defensive midfield position.
Lavia's fellow Chelsea Carney Chukwuemeka is also on their radar, according to Sport.
Chukwuemeka joined Chelsea from Aston Villa in the summer of 2022 for a fee in the region of £20 million, but has since struggled for game time.
This season under new boss Enzo Maresca, the 20-year-old has played just 14 minutes of first-team football.
When will Romeo Lavia play again for Chelsea?
Lavia missed most of last season through injury, but was named in the starting line-up for Chelsea's Premier League opener this term against his former club Manchester City.
He picked up a hamstring injury soon after, however, which forced him to miss another six games.
Lavia is now fit again and has been named in Chelsea's squad for their recent matches against Brighton and Nottingham Forest.
It's currently unclear in what capacity he will feature in Chelsea's next Premier League game against Liverpool on October 20, but Maresca recently said that he was delighted to have Lavia back.
"He played one league game for us this season against City and I think it was a very good game from Romeo," said the Italian manager.
"I’m very excited thinking that soon we can have [Moises Caicedo] and Romeo both fit 100%, because I think both together playing that position, they can give us a lot," he explained.
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