With Fabinho out, Liverpool was moving around to secure a defensive midfielder. While various names of players have been in the media, Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia has been the top priority, with three offers presented, all of which have been rejected because they did not meet the asking price.
Southampton and Liverpool are separated by a valuation, with Liverpool having difficulty with a reported £50 million due to his age and experience, and after a sudden change of target, an inter-club agreement was reached with Brighton over the Ecuadorian midfielder Moises Caicedo.
But the drama did not end there. The player expressed his desire to go only to Chelsea and turned down Liverpool, although it would have been impossible not to do some research beforehand.
Once again, the search for a defensive midfielder had been abandoned, but now faced with an even more difficult situation.
According to Sacha Tavolieri, Chelsea and Southampton are close to an agreement for the Belgian midfielder, who is on his way to Stamford Bridge. He also reported that Liverpool are backtracking on an offer of equal value.
“Agreement between Chelsea & Saints now close to £52M + £3M add-ons. Not a done deal yet as it left some extra information to be exchanged tomorrow even if Southampton accepted the fee as revealed this evening. “
“Been told Chelsea wants to anticipate a possibly last minute hijack from Liverpool by asking the team responsible to be prepared for medical tests.”
“Joe Shields absolutely impressive for Chelsea on this transfer while Liverpool was scary to meet Southampton financial requests.”
💰 Agreement between #CFC & #SaintsFC now close to 52M£ + 3M£ add-ons. Not a done deal yet as it left some extra information to be exchanged tomorrow even if Soton accepted the fee as revealed this evening.
— Sacha Tavolieri (@sachatavolieri) August 12, 2023
🇧🇪✍🏼 Blues wants to extend the number of contract years from 5 to 7… pic.twitter.com/aNnajwrR5g