Manchester United and Chelsea are not going to make it easy for Liverpool to add another quality midfielder to their squad this summer.
That’s according to a recent report from the Daily Mail, who claims Jurgen Klopp’s Reds face competition from two of their biggest Premier League rivals, as well as one foreign club, for the signature of Southampton’s Romeo Lavia.
Liverpool, after losing Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Fabinho, Naby Keitha and James Milner, have understandably been eager to rebuild their midfield. Already signing Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton and Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig, next on the list for the 2019-20-league winners is 19-year-old Lavia.
Despite The Saints being relegated to the Championship, their talented young number 45, who enjoyed a highly impressive individual breakthrough season, has drawn some high-profile praise.
Speaking in an exclusive interview earlier in the year about Chelsea’s interest in Lavia, British agent Haydn Dodge, said: “One of the players at the top of their list [Chelsea’s] to bring in, in January will be Southampton’s Romeo Lavia, who, in my opinion, is a superstar in the making and Belgium’s future captain.”
And now, according to these latest reports, although Chelsea may have had a long-standing interest in the Belgium international, Liverpool are likely to be the saga’s frontrunners.
However, while Erik Ten Hag considers going after Fiorentina’s Sofyan Amrabat, there are no guarantees the Red Devils won’t look to rival their fierce rivals for Southampton’s £32 million-valued midfielder.