Lavia started Chelsea’s first two matches of the season, against Manchester City and Servette, before being sidelined for a month by injury. The 20-year-old is now back in training and in Maresca’s thinking for this afternoon’s Premier League meeting with Brighton & Hove Albion at Stamford Bridge, though.

It remains to be seen whether today’s fixture arrives too soon for Lavia to be involved from the start, but our head coach has been considering the difference his return could make to our midfield dynamic.

Although he believes Lavia is a similar player to Moises Caicedo, he feels they could provide an excellent option as a midfield pairing.

‘Romeo will give us more or less the same as Moi,’ began the Italian. ‘He played one league game for us this season against City and I think it was a very good game from Romeo.

‘I’m very excited thinking that soon we can have Moi and Romeo both fit 100 per cent, because I think both together playing that position, they can give us a lot. They can compete for one position and they can play together, for sure.’

The other half of that potential midfield duo, Caicedo, has started the season in impressive form and been a near ever-present in the Premier League so far, missing just 14 minutes of the action, when he was substituted with the Blues leading 5-2 at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Understandably, that has left Maresca very pleased with the Ecuador captain’s performances, although he has identified one area of his game which can still improve.

‘I knew Moi already from Brighton, I watched a lot of games of Moi in that season. I think in this moment for us he’s a very important player,' added our head coach.

‘He's doing well, especially off the ball, but he can do much better on the ball and be more brave breaking the line. But I think with us he's doing very well, but he can be even better on the ball.’

Enzo also explained the thinking behind his policy of every member of the men’s team group attending matches, whether they are in the matchday squad or not. That was especially visible during our midweek Carabao Cup tie against Barrow, when a number of players were waiting on the touchline to congratulate their fellow Blues on a 5-0 victory at the final whistle.

‘The ones that were in the squad, they had to be there. And the ones that were not in the squad, they had to be there,’ he explained. ‘I asked them to be there because in a normal team you have to be like a team and if there is a game all of them have to be there.

‘For sure it is the same for today’s game. In terms of culture I think it's quite normal that if my team-mate is playing a game, I’m there before the game and after the game to support him, whether you do good or bad.

‘I think it’s correct for all of them to be there, no matter if it’s the Carabao Cup, Premier League or a different competition. If we want to create something, these small things are very important.’