Belgium U21 manager Gil Swarts has cleared up confusion over Chelsea midfielder Romeo Lavia's involvement this month.
The 22-year-old has made only one appearance for Belgium U21 in 2022, against Scotland.
The Chelsea player made his senior debut in Belgium's friendly win over Germany in March 2023. He has not appeared for them since then.
This is mainly because the midfielder has struggled with injuries and fitness since arriving at Stamford Bridge from Southampton in August 2023.
To put this into context, he has played 1,559 minutes from 37 matches, including 503 minutes from 15 matches this season, which includes eight Premier League appearances. His statistics per league game this season are as follows.
| premier league 2025/26 | |
|---|---|
| appearances | 8 |
| started | 2 |
| minutes per game | 28 |
| total minutes played | 221 |
Lavia has been fit for over a month and has made seven appearances for Liam Rosenior's side in March. Last weekend, he started in the Blues' 3–0 league defeat to Everton and played 57 minutes.
This may have led to suggestions of him returning to the national team or the Swans team for the March international break.
Swarts on Chelsea deal for Lavia
The Club World Cup winners initially stated on their official website that Romeo Lavia had made the Belgium U21 squad before removing it.
On Monday, Sports Witness Covered Claims He rejected calls from Gil Swarts from his country's media.
Sporza The English club's official website spoke to Jong Duivels to ask him about the message. Both the Belgian FA and Chelsea, and not Lavia, decided that he would not play for his country this month.
"There was a misunderstanding. He was on initial selection for the first team, and then there was contact between the federation and Chelsea staff," He said.
"It was asked if he could get minutes for the U21s, but it was decided by mutual consent not to do so. But Romeo never refused his selection."
march international break fixtures
Belgium U21
- European qualifier vs Austria on 27 March
- Friendly vs Netherlands on 30 March
belgium
- Friendly vs USA on 28 March
- Friendly vs Mexico on 1 April
🇵🇹 Exclusive: Maxi Araújo
⏩Tottenham and Chelsea are in contact
➡️ Source gave information @UllalIBT
➡️There is also further Premier League interesthttps://t.co/K17lRpjlUG #thfc #cfc- Sports Witness (@Sport_Witness) 22 March 2026
