Liverpool Dithering Made Romeo Lavia Change His Mind As Chelsea Medical Due Today Wednesday, 16th Aug 2023 10:38 The latest is news is that Romeo Lavia will be in London today to have a medical and complete his move from Southampton to Stamford Bridge, he will then make his debut for Chelsea at the weekend, a complete turnaround from a week ago, Saints will we relieved to get the Romeo Lavia transfer saga done and dusted and be able to get on with the job of spending the money received from both Lavia and James Ward Prowse on replacements not just in the centre of midfield, but other key areas. Ironically it seems that both players will meet up on Sunday to make their debuts for their new clubs as West Ham host Chelsea at the London Stadium.
But a month ago, even a week ago Romeo Lavia seemed to be going to only one club and that was Liverpool, all reports said that this was his preferred destination and perhaps with the player seemingly in the bag it made the Anfield club take their eye off the ball. Certainly this is how sportwitness.co.uk see the situation having panned out. They are reporting that Lavia has been in Belgium over the weekend and will fly into London this morning from Brussels for a medical and complete the transfer paperwork. They also say that Southampton have accepted a deal worth £58 million for the player, a couple of million short of Liverpool's last offer of £60 million.
They cite Journalist Sacha Tavolieri as their source, he said on X: "Romeo Lavia’s flight from Brussel to London expected to be at 11 am. Player turned back to Belgium on Monday after choosing Chelsea, waiting for the final agreement to happen yesterday between both clubs. Medical tests, signature and communication will be the program of today " So how did Liverpool miss out on signing Romeo Lavia, how did Chelsea snatch the player from them in what looked like a done deal. The simple answer was Liverpool were complacent, they tried to use Lavia's wish to join them as a chance to push through the deal at a cheap rate, Southampton made it quite clear what the price was and that was £50 million. But Liverpool dithered, instead of getting real they offered derisory money, starting at £40 million and with each refusal only increasing it by a million here and there. Saints were holding firm but Liverpool felt sure that the players desire would push Southampton into a corner and force them to sell at a far cheaper price.
Suddenly though Liverpool found that things had changed, Saints pushed up the asking price to £60 million, they had done so because there was competition in town, Chelsea sensing Liverpool's dithering made a bid of their own, Liverpool suddenly woke up from their slumbering and slapped £60 million on the table, but it was too late. Southampton accepted the offer, but it was out of their hands now, the player himself was not so sure about Liverpool anymore. Sources close to Lavia had briefed the media that Lavia was now longer not quite so sure about Liverpool due to their behaviour and their failure to pay what was required to get the deal done, he felt that he was second choice in their transfer targets and that if they landed Moises Caicedo, that they would not be able to afford both he and Lavia. Chelsea grabbed the bull by the horns and they had an advantage, their Head of Recruitment Joe Sheilds had been involved with Lavia at Manchester City and had been instrumental in signing him for Southampton a year ago, he could get the players ear.
What he said is unknown, but he would have played on Lavia's doubts about Liverpool being serious about signing them and undoubtably pointed to the fact that Chelsea were looking to reclaim former glories and would not baulk at signing Lavia to play alongside Moises Caicedo, not just as a back up. Sacha Tavolieri was certainly confirming this again on his X account. "Romeo #Lavia’s felt #LiverpoolFC played with him that’s why he decided to go for #ChelseaFC. He was there... waiting for them & felt like they didn’t considered him as a priority. A sign of this was that when he was waiting for them, while negociating, he understood that #LFC was already seeking for other options. On the other side, #Chelsea has always kept the same line with the same speech to the player and a a faithful and upright will. As written yesterday, Liverpool lost too much time last week with low offers before the #Blues assault... That's one of the reasons why he will be a Chelsea player next season even if his initial personal preference was the Reds. " So it seems that this long running transfer saga will finally come to an end in the next 24 hours and although Southampton will get only £58 million in total as compared to the £60 million Liverpool had finally agreed to play, but there is a feeling that this is preferred to get the deal done quickly and that it also cements a good relationship with Chelsea that started with Tino Livramento, that may reap further rewards both in the short and medium term. Southampton fans in the main will probably also be happy, the memories of 2014-17 are still fresh in the minds of many and the way that Liverpool behaved back then, especially in their tapping up of Virgil Van Dijk, for many they will see it as karma. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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