"Cole Palmer's Heartwarming Pre-Match Gesture and Romeo Lavia's Life-Changing Moment"

AUGUST 30, 2022 was a sliding doors moment for Romeo Lavia and Chelsea.

And in many ways it sums up the highs and lows of the young midfielder’s career so far.

Romeo Lavia was forced off injured for Chelsea in the Champions League against QarabagCredit: AFP

It is a bitter truth for Lavia that one of his best performances in English was for Southampton AGAINST the Blues, on that day more than three years ago.

The Belgian, still only 18 at the time, scored the equaliser and ran the game for an hour as the Saints came from behind to win 2-1.

New co-owners and Behdad Eghbali and fellow Blues directors had rocked up at St Mary’s full of bravado, confident they were going to show everyone how to run a 21st century football club.

And although they were a bit chastened by the defeat, they quickly went on the front foot.

The story goes that Chelsea lodged a big verbal bid for Lavia immediately after the game – although the Saints were not sure how seriously to take it.

Nevertheless the seed had been sown in the minds of the Blues contingent and Lavia was firmly on their radar.

But the fragility of the young man was also on show that night in Southampton.

Lavia went off with a hamstring injury, an issue which has blighted his senior career.

He did not play again until November 2022, by which time Southampton were in a relegation battle which they would go on to lose.

Meanwhile, things were also changing significantly at Chelsea.

Just eight days after the defeat at St Mary’s, boss was sacked because of a combination of poor results and a fractured relationship with the owners.

In came from Brighton, along with his backroom team. Paul Winstanley also arrived from the Amex in November as director of global transfers and talent, and is now co-sporting director.

But the Blues made another South Coast raid before Winstanley when they poached Joe Shields from Southampton.

Shields had only been with the Saints for only a few months but was recruited by Chelsea as co-director of recruitment and talent, at a time when Boehly was still acting as sporting director.

Shields had not started work at Southampton when they signed Lavia from Manchester City in July 2022.

But as City’s head of academy recruitment and talent management, he had been instrumental in bringing in the Belgian from Anderlecht’s academy in 2020.

And Shields was undoubtedly a factor in Chelsea beating Liverpool in the race to sign Lavia in the summer of 2023, following Southampton’s relegation.

The Blues shelled out an initial £53million for the then 19-year-old, with clauses taking it up to £58m.

You wonder how many, if any, of the additional payments have been triggered.

Lavia has managed just 30 appearances for Chelsea. The last one was for just a handful of minutes against Qarabag last week, before a quad injury forced him off and back to the treatment room for at least another month.

Perhaps as he comes in and out of the Cobham training ground for rehabilitation, he will bump into Chelsea’s goalscorer from that night in August 2022.

A player whose Blues career is on hold for very different reasons – .

Romeo Lavia shone for Southampton against Chelsea before joining the BluesCredit: EPA But since a move to Stamford Bridge, he is yet to complete a full 90 minutesCredit: Getty

UEFA INVESTIGATION

have launched an investigation into allegations of racist behaviour towards Chelsea’s Under-19 team last week in Azerbaijan.

The Uefa Youth League match against Qarabag in Baku was halted after an incident that followed Sol Gordon giving the Blues the lead just before the hour.

A Uefa spokesperson told SunSport’s Chelsea Files: “A UEFA Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector is being appointed to investigate allegations of an incident that occurred during the UEFA Youth League match between Qarabag Youth and Chelsea Youth on 5 November 2025.”

An eyewitness reported hearing and seeing monkey noises and gestures as the Chelsea players celebrated Gordon’s goal

The Blues youngsters complained to the referee and spoke to coaches on the sidelines before agreeing to resume the game.

Chelsea issued a strongly-worded statement calling for action, citing the actions of one Qarabag fan.

To be fair to Qarabag, staff at the club were appalled by the alleged incident and immediately apologised.

But it all overshadowed another excellent display by Chelsea’s youngsters. They went on to win 5-0, with winger Jesse Derry scoring twice.

Derry, 18, who joined the Blues from in the summer, now has three goals in four Uefa Youth League games. Three days later he scored one and made one in the 4-1 PL2 win over Reading, to take his tally to five goals and one assist in eight appearances for the Under-21 team.

With first-team games coming thick and fast again after the international break, it would be no surprise to see the Under-19 star called up by .

Jesse Derry has been shining for Chelsea’s u21 side since joining from Crystal PalaceCredit: Getty

STARS IN THE BLUE-S-A

MORE Chelsea players are set to book their places at the World Cup this week – and put themselves at risk of two years of football without a proper break.

Pedro Neto’s , Marc Cucurella’s , Malo Gusto’s and Filip Jorgensen’s are all in pole position to win their Uefa groups and go through without the need for play-offs.

The Blues are set to have a strong South American contingent in the tournament next year, with , and having safely negotiated the already-completed CONMEBOL qualifiers.

Samba soccer senhores Joao Pedro, Estevao and Andrey Santos are in Brazil’s squad for the upcoming friendlies, while Moises Caicedo is with Ecuador.

Enzo Fernandez is not joining up with because of his knee problem, but will be in their squad next summer, fitness permitting. If Alejandro Garnacho hits top form, he might force his way back into the team, too.

If can avoid injury, he will probably be England’s first-choice right back. Trevoh Chalobah’s call-up to replace the injured Marc Guehi ahead of this week’s games against and Albania suggests he is still in with a shout of being on the plane.

And will surely join them, providing he, too, regains fitness. ACL-injury victim is a longer shot.

Even if you discount the injured Colwill and goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, whose last call-up by was nearly a year ago, nine of the Chelsea players who started the final on July 13 are likely to be in their country’s squads for next summer’s event.

That is: Gusto, Chalobah, Cucurella, James, Ferandez, Caicedo, Neto, Joao Pedro and Palmer. Don’t forget Estevao played for in the CWC quarter-final against the Blues on July 5.

The World Cup final will take place on July 19 and it is impossible for all the Chelsea players to be in it.

But the group stage does not end until June 27, 2026 – 349 days after that CWC final.

And there will be a club tour of some kind before the Premier League starts all over again in August.

Pedro Neto (left) and Enzo Fernandez (right) are both not joining up with their national teams in this international breakCredit: Alamy

PALMER FINDS SPACE (AT THE DINNER TABLE)

is hardly a great advert for the posh catering at .

Or perhaps Palmer’s latest venture into the media room for a quick pre-match bite is just testament to how well the Blues look after journalists.

There have been some cutbacks to what is on offer.

But the Chelsea spread remains one of the best in the Premier League and Palmer was there again to sample it before the Wolves game last Saturday.

The star saw a bit of space and, with no-one around him, loaded up a plate with some chicken and potatoes.

Palmer checked his shoulder then slipped back through the room and out the door that connects it to the tunnel and dressing rooms.

Cole Palmer (centre) has been enjoying the press food offerings at Stamford Bridge, and we are all too happy to share with the Chelsea starCredit: Getty

HOLY SHIRT

The scene of a fan waiting at a Chelsea match with a sign asking for a player’s shirt is a familiar one at Stamford Bridge.

But not many who get them have got the same passion as MatchWornShirt head of business James Flude…

Chelsea fan James got into collecting football shirts when Salomon Kalou threw him a shirt from a game against Wigan, and years later, he has played a huge part in partnering with the club, which sees him close to every shirt worn by his heroes on the pitch.

One of his stories includes a pitch invasion that ended up in James spending some time in a police cell, long before the days of partnering with the Blues.

He told SunSport: “I was 14 when I got Kalou’s shirt and I was going to five or six away games per season at the time, so I had the buzz of getting shirts.

“I knew that nine times out of ten, if the result was a positive one, the players would come to the fans at the end, so I got into a habit of heading down to the front after around 89 minutes so that I’d have a chance of getting a shirt if they threw them over.

“I got a hand to one of ‘s, and I’m pretty sure he threw it to me, but some massive geezer in the away end ripped it off me so I was gutted.

“Four or five months later, we played Sunderland away, and I saw Ashley Cole take his shirt off, and I just had this weird surge of ‘I don’t want to lose this shirt again’, so I just hopped the fence, ran on, got his shirt and gave him a big hug.

“When I turned around, though I had three northern policemen running towards me and had to sit in a police cell for a couple of hours but I was only 15 so I got away with a reprimand.

“Fortunately, I don’t have to break any laws to get them now!”

That moment was the catalyst for a hobby that would lead to him becoming the Head of Business at MatchWornShirt, who are now partnered with Chelsea.

They auction off the players’ shirts from each game, some for extremely high amounts like Cole Palmer’s four-goal shirt from the game vs Brighton last season, which sold for over £34,000.

SunSport’s Lloyd Canfield found this beauty of a Lamine Yamal shirt in the MatchWornShirt warehouse The platform sells worn shirts from Chelsea stars, including Cole Palmer’s four-goal shirt from the game against Brighton last season

MAKING HIS MART

THE goalkeeper whose career highlight came for at Stamford Bridge is now shepherding the next generation of Chelsea keepers.

was left in tears at full-time of his Hammers debut, a 1-0 win over the Blues at Stamford Bridge in April 2021.

He celebrated the moment by climbing into the press box, just behind the dugout, to celebrate with his dad, Alvin, who was working for TalkSport that day.

Now he is working trying to give young stars from within Chelsea their own dream day at the Bridge.

Martin, 39, has been working as a goalkeeping coach with Chelsea’s youth sides since the summer.

The former MK Dons man works with age groups from Under-16 up to the Under-21 level.

Staff and players speak fondly of Martin, who joined after a year with Ipswich’s first team in the Premier League last season having retired in 2024.

David Martin’s career highlight came for West Ham at Stamford BridgeCredit: AFP or licensors