Romeo Lavia is yet to feature for Southampton this season as transfer talks with Liverpool continue
Liverpool may have turned down offers for Romeo Lavia three times but the text is clear when it comes to the Belgian’s future at Southampton.
Unable to come on as a substitute in the opening match of the All Saints’ Championship in Sheffield on Wednesday night, the 19-year-old was not even included in the squad for the shock defeat in the first round of the League. Cup against Gillingham on Tuesday. While Lavia is believed to have received interest from the Reds, Southampton’s decision not to bring in the midfielder until this point of the season has told their own story.
Ensuring he didn’t get knocked out of the cup by exempting him from League Cup duties, the Saints also ensured that the teenager avoided unnecessary injury in the highly anticipated pre-silver game. The move from St. Mary’s seems to be a matter of timing rather than whether a move to Anfield remains uncertain.
With Chelsea, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain also said to be interested in the teenager, Southampton are under no pressure to sell Lavia on the cheap. Meanwhile, City have a £40m buyout clause next summer, while Chelsea turned down a £50m bid last summer to justify their current request.
Liverpool’s latest bid for Lavia is worth a total of £46m, which has since seen offers of £34m plus an additional £4m and a £42m package rejected by Southampton. Currently, The Saints are keeping their asking price of £50 million.
While the place and time are yet to be decided regarding the 19-year-old’s future, the Saints are sure to pocket a substantial fee and a sizable profit. And with negotiations between Liverpool and Southampton still ongoing, one bettor would expect Lavia to be a Reds player before the summer ends.
Of course, Liverpool have been in this situation before, both as a buy and sell club. And perhaps this experience in the colors of the Saints will be repeated while a transfer is still possible this summer.
On this day in 2004, Michael Owen from the bench saw the Rafa Benitez era begin with a 2-1 win over Grazer AK. Three days later, a £12 million move to Real Madrid was confirmed.
Fast forward to the summer of 2010, Javier Mascherano was left out of the Liverpool squad that lost 3–0 to Man City on 23 August amid much speculation about his future and his desire to join FC Barcelona. At the time, it was suggested that he actually went on strike to force a transfer, and on 27 August the Catalans agreed a fee of £17.25m with the Red Devils. for Argentina players.
And in the 2017/18 season, Barcelona once again visited Anfield when pursuing the Philippe Coutinho deal. The Brazilian will sit out the Red Devils’ opening six games, including all of his August debuts, with a back injury suspected as he waits in hopes of a move to the Camp Nou.
Despite the disappointment of the summer, a record £142m move to Barcelona was finally completed in January 2018. But not before the player missed games against Burnley and Everton first. when a fee was agreed with the Catalan side on January 6.
All three transfers were controversial. While Xabi Alonso and Raheem Sterling are relieved of pre-season duties ahead of their own big-money outings, admittedly it’s much more complicated when the competitive action kicks in as Liverpool and Southampton are currently playing. appear.
There may be no doubt about a suspicious injury or refusal to play when it comes to Lavia, but he has certainly put a foot on the doorstep at St. Mary’s.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and Saints manager Russell Martin have hinted a transfer won’t happen until the weekend as negotiations resume. But with Lavia remaining the Reds’ top choice target to replace Fabinho following the Brazilian’s sudden departure to Al-Ittihad, both clubs will want to end the protracted transfer saga this as soon as possible with a seemingly inevitable exit.
All that remained was to agree a transfer fee, although three offers were subsequently rejected and that is admittedly easier said than done.
