Liverpool may finally be making progress after a pause on advancements in their transfer for Romeo Lavia. As The Top Flight had covered, Liverpool saw two bids rejected from Southampton for Romeo Lavia. Things looked to have slowed as there’s yet to be a new bid in recent days. It is seen, though, that Liverpool have started to look at alternative targets at the midfield position. Finally, there have been some new and important updates to the Romeo Lavia transfer saga.
Fabrizio Romano, via the “here we go” podcast, has given some details on the situation. Transcribed by Dave OCKOP:
"“Southampton are always asking for £50m, Liverpool have tried with £37m, then they tried with £42m. Liverpool will try again, I remain convinced that Liverpool will try again and they will bid again for Romeo Lavia. But it’s on Southampton more than on Liverpool, so we will have to see how they react to these bids. My feeling is that Liverpool will bid again”."
With Liverpool expecting to bid again, there is surely some belief internally that a deal could still happen. What will always be potentially promising news for Liverpool fans is Romeo Lavia did not feature for Southampton in their opening Championship match against Sheffield Wednesday. He remained on the bench for the entirety of Southampton’s 2-1 win. In the pre-match conference, Southampton manager Russell Martin spoke about the potential departures of Romeo Lavia and James Ward-Prowse .
"“Do I think they will be Southampton players by the end of the window? I have not got a clue. What I hope and what I think are probably very different”.“If they’re both not here at some point or one of them isn’t it will be because the club and the player have both had something that is beneficial for everyone.”“I think that’s why it has dragged on so long so far and I think it might continue to drag on, but both of them while they have been here have been great, at very different stages of their career.”"
Martin echoes the idea that Southampton will hold out on their prices but completely understands that a move still could happen. Lavia’s exclusion from playing may indicate that his head is not in the right spot to play important matches for Southampton at the moment. Realistically, a new bid could be launched this week for the midfielder.