Southampton hope Chelsea’s bid for Romeo Lavia will push Liverpool to make a better offer.
Chelsea unexpectedly made a £48m offer for Lavia, surpassing Liverpool’s three previous offers. With the two clubs currently in fierce contention, a bidding war could ensue.
And, in a slightly skeptical tone on Twitter, journalist Ian Doyle thinks that’s exactly what Southampton are looking for.
“Strange Chelsea. Everyone knows how much Southampton want Lavia, so why not bid? Doyle wrote.
“It seems they don’t really want that and want to force Brighton into further talks over Caicedo, while Southampton are hoping an offer can make Liverpool commensurate with their value to Lavia.” \
Chelsea force Liverpool’s hand
While that’s a bit cynical for Doyle, you can’t rule it out entirely. In football, there are problems that most of us are unaware of.
With former Southampton recruitment director Joe Shields now at Chelsea, perhaps the news has passed through his former employers.
You can see the logic behind this:
make a nice offer to the player, we will not immediately refuse, the team that really wants it will be forced to make their own offer.
In theory, this makes sense. But the reality is that Chelsea can also do it with a player like Lavia herself. Despite being young, the teenager has very high ceilings. Pep Guardiola called him ‘incredible’ last season [mancity.com] and he would make a great signing for whoever gets him.
As for Chelsea, they really tried to get the Belgian last summer. Struggling to make progress in negotiations for Moises Caicedo, Lavia can be seen as a cheaper alternative. So we definitely won’t consider it read.
Liverpool will have to up the offer for Lavia whether Chelsea are involved or not. The Blues have also yet to reach the Saints’ £50m valuation, so the Red Devils always know what they have to offer to strike a deal.
