When Chelsea signed Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia in the same summer transfer window, they must have been hoping that it would sort out their midfield for years to come. The former has met those expectations and is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League right now. The same cannot be said about his teammate.
Lavia has proven to be extremely injury-prone. Since joining Chelsea in the summer of 2023, he has only played 30 times. There is no doubt that the Belgian midfielder has quality. But his constant fitness issues mean that the club might already be looking to move on from him.
In recent times, Chelsea have been linked with quite a few midfielders. The latest of them is already making a name for himself at Bayern Munich. The Blues are not the only ones either.
As reported by TEAMtalk, Manchester City and Chelsea are closely following Aleksandar Pavlovic. Their analytics are pointing to the fact that the Bayern Munich midfielder could be the nearest thing to Rodri.
Chelsea interested in Bayern Munich midfielder who is like Rodri
There is no reason to believe that Pavlovic would be pushing to leave Bayern Munich at this point in time. He might not be starting regularly in the Bundesliga, but he has already started all six of their games in the Champions League this season, showing how highly the 21-year-old is regarded by Vincent Kompany.
That does not mean that other clubs won't be following him. And if the opportunity to sign him ever arises, expect Chelsea to be involved.
For the time being, it does not feel like Pavlovic is a realistic target for Chelsea though. One would imagine that he is one of a number of defensive midfielders that they have on their radar as that is a position where the Blues might be looking to strengthen.