Romeo Lavia was still leaning towards a move to Liverpool as news of a bid from Chelsea broke last night.
The Reds have been seen as the front-runners to sign the Southampton midfielder for the past month or so. But having seen three offers for him now turned down, Chelsea have sensed an opportunity.
As per the likes of The Athletic last night, the Blues have put an offer of £48m to Southampton. Confirming this information on Twitter on Wednesday evening, Belgian journalist Sacha Tavolieri attempting to reassure panicking Liverpool fans.
“Chelsea FC now on the ball for Romeo Lavia with a 48M£ bid, as first told by David Ornstein,” relayed the journalist.
“CFC really try to hijack the deal tonight & Chelsea has always been the longest team following & pressing for Romeo Lavia in the time… Joe Shields’s role could be decisive. Mind of the player remained until this evening focus on Liverpool FC deal. This is a complex situation… so Wait&See.
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“The only thing I can tell to the LFC fans right now « to reassure » them is that the Belgian midfielder was clear about his desire to move to Liverpool FC until this evening. Now, the next hours will show us if the player changed his mind on this, or not.
We don’t like this at all!
Chelsea trump Liverpool for Lavia
If Liverpool do end up losing Lavia to Chelsea, they better have a very, very good alternative lined up.
For the past however many weeks, the Reds have had a clear run at the 19-year-old. They’ve more or less known all along what Southampton were asking for to sell their player, and inched forward with three incremental offers.
Had they bitten the bullet, accepted they badly needed a player of his ilk and paid the £50m asking price, they’d likely have the player long wrapped up by now.
Instead, there’s now a real risk that they end up empty-handed.
What Lavia’s preference is between the two clubs may ultimately be irrelevant. Chelsea’s reported offer of £48m was higher than anything Liverpool have put on the table.
If the West Londoners simply outbid them, the Reds won’t have the chance to convince the Belgian.
After such a promising start to this summer’s window, things have once again descended into farce for Liverpool. The silver lining is that this should start moving quickly now, but that’ll be no consolation if Lavia ends up at Stamford Bridge.