After weeks of rumoured interest, Liverpool are now looking to pounce for Southampton’s Romeo Lavia. It was inevitable a bid would eventually come through, but now things are officially getting started.
David Ornstein of The Athletic reports that Liverpool have submitted a bid worth roughly £37m for Romeo Lavia that Southampton have swiftly rejected. The south-coast club is holding firm on their valuation of Lavia at a whopping £50m. As of now, Southampton are not looking to budge on this price and are expecting Liverpool to give in if they want to complete a transfer. Fabrizio Romano states that talks are ongoing between Southampton and Liverpool after the rejection of the initial Lavia bid.
https://twitter.com/David_Ornstein/status/1683844686941679618?s=20
The Top Flight had reportedly earlier this transfer window that Liverpool could explore a ‘creative way’ to sign Romeo Lavia. This involved potentially sending younger players either permanently or on loan to Southampton at a reduced fee for Romeo Lavia. While a scenario like this may not be off the cards, it feels unlikely at the moment, given Southampton’s stance on Lavia’s value.
Liverpool, for the time being, are favourites to land Romeo Lavia, but that doesn’t mean they are the only team watching. Chelsea is lurking around and holds an interest that dates back to January when they saw a £50m bid rejected for Romeo Lavia. Moises Caicedo is still their priority, though, leaving Liverpool in the driver’s seat for a potential transfer.
Jurgen Klopp will surely want his midfield situation completely sorted soon. Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szboszlai are new additions, but they still need to figure out the departures. Jordan Henderson is expected to join Steven Gerrard’s Al Ettifaq, but that deal is slowly moving toward completion. Additionally, Fabinho’s move, once seen as a closed deal, is now a risk of collapsing, according to David Ornstein.
It seems regardless of those moves, Romeo Lavia is someone Liverpool wants to bring in. It now is a matter of who will cave into who’s demands.