If you believe the rumour mill then Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United lead a host of clubs interested in signing Romeo Lavia from Southampton this summer, however there are a few twists in the saga to come yet, but it seems Newcastle United won't be one of them.

Saints have report ably set a £50 million starting price for Romeo Lavia only a year after buying him for only £10.5 million a year ago from Manchester City and it seems that the big clubs are still interested even at that price, such is his potential and reputation.

However it seems that the club with the most money are not interested in getting into a bidding war according to Football League World

Newcastle United are now said to be pulling out of the running to sign Lavia, they consider the £50 million too much for a player who is still only 19 and has only 29 Premier League games to his name.

The Toon are also said to have ended their interest in James Ward Prowse again feeling that the price is too high.

The current favourites to land Lavia are now Chelsea and Liverpool, with Arsenal perhaps dropping back whilst they pursue Declan Rice.

So that is 5 of the Big 7 covered in the chase for Romeo Lavia, but what of the other 2 Tottenham Hotspur & his old club Manchester City.

Spurs might be hard pushed to meet the asking price with no income from European football, not to mention that this will also be a factor in any player they do pursue from not just a financial perspective but also a footballing one.

That just leaves Manchester City and this is where there could be a twist or two, the Premier League Champions have a £40 million buy back clause that can be activated next summer, but would they be willing to offer £10 million more to get him a year earlier ?

That is the question and one that might just see Lavia stay at St Mary's another year, it could be that Pep Guardiola does not see him as first team material just yet, he might want to see him get another year under his belt of regular first team football first.

That seemed to be the plan for City when they sold Lavia, they knew that chances would be limited for him at such a young age, so two years in the Premier League at Southampton to get him First team ready at City and buying him back was a good gamble.

The only problem was Southampton ruined their plan by getting relegated and whereas Lavia might have been content with another season in the Premier League with Saints, is he still prepared to sit tight in the Championship.

It will depend on how much he still speaks to those at City, will they convince him that staying at Saints for a year and then returning to City is a better option than going to any of their rivals.

The truth is that even Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal & Manchester United can no longer compete with City financially and the gap is widening, ironically only Newcastle seem to have the clout to keep up with them on the money front and in this case they seem to be careful with the purse strings.

There are a lot of twists to this transfer yet and Romeo Lavia kicking off the season in a Saints shirt is not as far fetched as you might think it would be, whether he reaches February still wearing it, is another matter.

Saints are in a strong position here, they have a great talent on a long term contract, the only snag being City can buy him back for £40 million, as much as they might rate Lavia and want to keep him, they know that they will get less from City next summer than they can get this summer pr for that matter in the January transfer window.

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derbydog added 14:04 - Jun 28 I think there’s a sell on clause so if we sold for £50m City would get maybe £10m of that, so keeping him a year and earning 40 next year and keeping goodwill with City would be the best option. We could get their next wizzkid in exchange maybe too. Same thing with Tino, let Chelsea have him back when they want him and not antagonise them by selling the player to a rival.

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highfield49 added 14:36 - Jun 28 I admit that I haven't read the snakes and ladder rules of financial fair play for some time but aren't Newcastle likely to be constrained in their transfer dealings? At one point Saudi PIF, PCP Capital and RB Sports and Media were all involved in the club buyout but that doesn't seem to necessarily equate to a bottomless trough of money for transfer activity. I'm pretty sure that Newcastle don't have anything like the clout of the usual suspects.

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SanMarco added 15:19 - Jun 28 Why would Lavia play in the second division instead of the European Cup? I fear it is wishful thinking to create scenarios where he stays for a year. I think we need to brace ourselves for the departures of several who we have persuaded ourselves might stay. We need to get good prices and we should only compromise where we are happy to let the player go. Of course we won't get top dollar due to a weak bargaining position but we shouldn't rill over to the likes of the Saudis. 15m for Livramento? - what a joke....

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underweststand added 16:17 - Jun 28 whilst I agree with "derby dog " comments (above) , the fact is that Lavia cost us 10 million to sign in the first place, money which may (in part) still be outstanding. A 50 mill. deal minus City's sell % - might mean that we are left with around 30 mill. to help replace him and others. Not a sum to be sniffed at, but we still have quite a few new names to come in before we start the season. Players who can command a fee of this magnitude are few (at least in Saints' situation). We should stand by our demands because if he performs as well as we know he can, quite a few clubs may regret being so tight-fisted when they had the chance to buy him.

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