Chelsea are looking to beat Liverpool to Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia as the London club have joined the race with a £48m bid.
The Reds have been pursuing the 19-year-old in recent weeks but are dragging their heels over the deal in an unLiverpool-like way. The Merseyside club have seen three bids rejected for the Southampton star with the latest being around £46million this week, reports The Athletic.
The same outlet are now reporting Chelsea’s interest in the Saints star, with the Blues submitting a £48million offer including add-ons for Lavia. Talks are currently ongoing, with Southampton still holding out for their asking price of £50m.
Liverpool will likely bid again for Lavia, even though they don’t believe the player is worth £50m due to his experience in the game. However, the Reds now have competition and the last thing they will want is for a bidding war to commence.
Jurgen Klopp is in desperate need of a number six and if Chelsea manages to hijack Liverpool’s deal for Lavia, the Reds will have to look elsewhere with not a lot of time left in the transfer window.
This saga is becoming embarrassing. We have in the past managed to get a number of players from Southampton, so we should by now have a good understanding of how they as a club work regarding transfers. There is less than a week before the season starts and we are still messing about after letting the majority of our midfield leave…poor….poor planning, not forgetting we also need to sort out the defence, which has continued on from last season to be poor. Currently, we are looking at 6th or 7th place by the end of the season, Klopp will go, FSG will eventually sell and leave us in the Sh.t.