CONFIRMED: Lavia SNUBS Liverpool for Chelsea to join Caicedo in transfer HIJACK

Suraj Radia

14 Aug 2023 18:00 BST
3 min read

Romeo Lavia is subject to a transfer tug of war between Chelsea and Liverpool — © ProShots

Chelsea are set to complete another sensational hijack of one of Liverpool’s top transfer targets after Romeo Lavia agreed to join the Blues from Southampton.

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Liverpool had been favourites to sign Lavia this summer but failed to meet Southampton’s £50 million valuation, having seen multiple bids in excess of £40m turned down.

The delay allowed Chelsea to make their move and convinced Liverpool to eventually agree a deal worth £60m for Lavia, however the 19-year-old had already seemingly had his head turned by the late approach from Mauricio Pochettino’s side.

A report from The Athletic has since confirmed that Lavia has opted to join Chelsea over Liverpool and a final deal worth £50m plus add-ons is expected to be agreed between the Blues and Southampton.

Lavia’s decision represents another bitter blow for Jurgen Klopp, having already seen Moises Caicedo make the same choice to turn down Liverpool for Chelsea despite initially agreeing a move to Anfield.

Liverpool thought they had beaten their rivals to Caicedo after submitting a £110m bid to Brighton but the Ecuadorian preferred a move to Chelsea, prompting the Stamford Bridge outfit to strike a deal worth £115m for the 21-year-old.

Chelsea breaking records as well as Liverpool hearts

Despite having spent nearly £800m on transfers in the past year, Chelsea are set to break the British transfer record for the second time in 2023 after their £106.8m signing of Enzo Fernandez in January.

The Blues will take their spending in this transfer window to more than £350m with the arrivals of Lavia and Caicedo, although they have raised in excess of £200m from player sales this summer.

More deals could come for Chelsea, who are keen on Crystal Palace’s Michael Olise, however Liverpool will be forced to return to the drawing board after seeing two of their top midfield targets slip through their fingers.

The Reds have enquired about the likes of Aurelien Tchouameni of Real Madrid among other players but Klopp could face disappointment going into the final weeks of the transfer window.