Revealed: How Romeo Lavia is utilizing state-of-the-art digital actuality tech to get again to his finest (even when Martin Odegaard stated it was too straightforward), the punishment Chelsea can anticipate from FA’s 74 prices and Marc Cucurella damage newest

Liam Rosenior used Chelsea‘s first free midweek of 2026 to hand out four days of downtime for his squad after the FA Cup win at Hull City on Friday. But while everyone else in the first-team setup enjoyed a mini-break, Romeo Lavia remained at Cobham.

The Belgian, 22, continued working towards his comeback with Lavia now nearing the end of his detailed rehabilitation programme, following Chelsea’s meticulous plan to get their midfielder back on the pitch and hopefully for good this time, thanks to the help of a state-of-the-art technology that is being used by some of the world’s best.

Lavia’s rested team-mates were told to report back to the training ground on Wednesday morning for their first full session before facing Burnley this Saturday. Some returned earlier on the Tuesday to begin doing their own fitness work at their base.

Starting with Burnley, Chelsea have eight games in three competitions before the March international break and Lavia’s return can be helpful, even if he is eased in initially as the ultimate goal is to ensure he remains fit for the foreseeable future. Lavia has not been seen in a blue shirt since the 2-2 draw at Qarabag in early November, and has only been fit enough to play 30 games for Chelsea since joining for £58million two-and-a-half years ago.

While sidelined, however, there were ways for Lavia to remember the feel of the football pitch and fine-tune his decision-making from central midfield. That was via virtual reality training, with Lavia having invested in a company called Be Your Best – an innovative product used to help players privately improve their ‘scanning’ in games.

That is when you see players continuously turning their heads left and right to see the full picture surrounding them on the pitch, including as the ball is rolling towards them from a pass.

Co-founded by Professor Geir Jordet, Lavia first tried this technology while at Southampton before signing for Chelsea. He was interested in new ways he could try to elevate his game even while injured.

Wearing a VR headset, it places the player on the pitch from a first-person perspective, recreating realistic scenarios with an AI system responding in real time as you are assessed on how much you scan and the decisions you make as the match unfolds.

According to research, legendary Spain and Barcelona midfielder Xavi was the best of the best at scanning, with Be Your Best’s chief executive Andreas Olsen telling Confidential: ‘Xavi was called “the Exorcist’s daughter” because he was constantly looking around. The highest measurement for him was 0.83 in scan rate, which means in 10 seconds, he will turn his head to check his surroundings eight times.

‘Before he gets the ball, he does the “critical” scan, which is when the ball is travelling towards you. You will see examples of this in players like Andres Iniesta, Martin Odegaard, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard or Kevin De Bruyne. They will do two scans as the ball is travelling to them.

‘They want that final picture. Lampard’s father said to him: “Pictures! Pictures!” It’s important not to fixate on scanning for the sake of scanning. Scanning is a means to an end – a tool you use to make the decision. You can train this, but you need to feel like you are on the pitch in a match. You need to feel the pressure is coming and the runs are going. That was the spark (for Be Your Best).’

Confidential tested it ourselves in London last week to see how it works – it turns out we are as bad at football in the virtual reality world as we are in the real one – and Olsen told us it is used in 80 countries by around 10,000 players and more than 100 clubs. It is understood Marc Guehi, Benjamin Sesko, Endrick, Dejan Kulusevski and Odegaard are among the technology’s users.

Olsen had an intriguing story to tell on Odegaard and how he personally influenced Be Your Best. The Arsenal captain actually maxed out its settings. He played it at 100 per cent speed, but asked for a more difficult level to be developed as it began to feel too comfortable.

Designers did as asked, as Olsen explained on Odegaard: ‘He used it when he was injured and his goal was to feel like, when he came back on the pitch, that things would feel like they were moving slower.

‘It is fast when you choose 100 per cent, but for him, it started to feel normal and so he wanted more of a challenge. He asked whether it was possible to make it even more challenging and put it up to 120 per cent, and that’s why we have that “Odegaard mode”, that extra 20 per cent.

‘The cool thing for us is that it’s not just a gimmick for them (professional players). It’s actually something they use over and over again, almost like a gym membership, but instead of training a physical muscle, they’re training the brain.

‘I used to be a semi-pro player. I played for Viking in Norway. One of the things I experienced, I would almost call it a sense of small anxiety, when you play against really good players and you’re almost scared of getting the ball because you know they’re going to be on you in a split-second.

‘What you need to do to be effective as a player is to understand what you have to do before you get the ball. Am I going to play the ball back to the player? Am I going to, with my first touch, play to this player that’s on the run?

‘Can I turn around on my left-hand side? Can I turn around on my right-hand side? Why is that? OK, because I see the pressure is coming on the other side. Making those decisions really quickly, that’s the goal.’

When Lavia’s impending comeback for Chelsea is complete, it will be worth watching for him turning his head this way and that as he prepares to receive a pass in midfield, having long worked on his scanning via his own affiliated company while sidelined.

Mr and Mr Smith

Lewis Smith will referee his first Premier League game of the season in Chelsea versus Burnley this Saturday, having acted as a fourth official in 10 fixtures this term.

Smith, who has taken charge of nine top-flight matches previously, was promoted by the PGMOL to a supplementary list for the Select Group 1 at the beginning of this campaign. His elevation is part of a vision within the refereeing body to give opportunities to high-performing officials.

There was some confusion on social media as Blues fans looked up Smith’s refereeing record and supposed he had been switching between games in the Championship and National League North and South this season.

However, we are told there are two referees by the same name, and Soccerbase seems to have combined the pair’s appointments.

Verdict nears on 74 charges 

Chelsea were slapped with 74 charges by the FA in September relating to alleged breaches involving payments to agents between 2009 and 2022 during Roman Abramovich’s time as owner.

The Blues’ new regime self-reported the financial irregularities after discovering them while doing their due diligence before buying the club.

We are still awaiting the conclusion of the charges, though it is coming, and Confidential has been assured that supporters can anticipate non-sporting sanctions as an outcome.

That would mean a fine rather than, say, a transfer ban or points deduction.

To Hull and back

Chelsea’s players were heavily criticised for supposedly ignoring Hull’s young mascots as they arrived at the MKM Stadium last week. Of course, one of those arriving could have shown some kindness to the kids in that moment, though they did later meet them before kick-off as usual.

The Blues are usually kind with mascots, especially their own, from my experience.

For example, I was at the 3-1 Premier League win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park a few weeks back when Chelsea’s young representative was looking a little chilly.  Reece James saw this, went out of his way to go back into the changing room, and returned with warmer clothing for the lad. So one social media clip should not paint a whole group as bad guys, in my view.

When’s Cucu back?

Rosenior has shown a reluctance to place timeframes on his players’ returns from injury, so we will need to see how much he is willing to divulge on Cucurella’s hamstring issue at his pre-Burnley press conference on Thursday.

It has been suggested Cucurella will face three to four weeks on the sidelines after being substituted at half-time in the 2-2 draw with Leeds.

If Cucurella is indeed sidelined for four weeks, he would miss these games: Burnley, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Wrexham and the Champions League last-16 first leg before Newcastle on March 14.