Romeo Lavia shows true colours with message to Chelsea debutant vs Noah

Romeo Lavia has sent a warm message to youngster Samuel Rak-Sakyi after the 19-year-old made his senior debut against Noah on Thursday.

The Blues dismantled the minnows 8-0 and Rak-Sakyi was substituted onto the field for the final 11 minutes of the contest as he replaced Christopher Nkunku.

The teenager - who signed a new two-year deal in August - had made the first-team matchday squad for the first time in October, making the bench in the 4-1 away European win at Panathinaikos.

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Rak-Sakyi, who earned two caps for England Under-18s in 2018, has been in Chelsea’s academy system since 2013 after being scouted at aged eight. His older brother, 22-year-old Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, also came through the youth ranks at Cobham before moving to Crystal Palace in 2021.

He did not make his first-team debut for Chelsea before his exit but his younger sibling was bestowed the honour this week. Lavia, who did not feature against Noah, was one senior star to pass on his congratulations to Rak-Sakyi.

is one of a few players, of which Cole Palmer is one, to have been left out of the squad submissions to UEFA for the Europa Conference League group stages for the reason of game-load management.

However, the 20-year-old was in the dressing room to commend Rak-Sakyi for his milestone and even posted a video of him conducting what appeared to be a dancing initiation upon his introduction to first-team action.

Sharing the footage to Instagram, Lavia commented: “Nights at SW6. Congrats @sam.rs10 on your debut! Keep going lil bro (when you have time [to] work on your dancing skills too [laughing emoji]).”