Liverpool, which has made steady reinforcements with Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, continues to struggle in recruiting a defensive midfielder. They lost heart to Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo, and Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia is likely to go to London.
With Fabinho out, they have to bring in a player who can play at the bottom of midfield, and now they are shifting their attention to other targets.
According to Fabrizio Romano, Liverpool will continue to follow Khephren Thuram and Manu Kone, while denying the possibility of acquiring Tyler Adams.
“Moises Caicedo is a new Chelsea player after an incredible saga and a long summer of Chelsea and Brighton negotiating, but now there’s also an important update on Romeo Lavia.”
“Lavia has communicated in a very clear way to all parties involved – Chelsea, his agents, Southampton – that he wants to join Chelsea. The decision has been made, and so Chelsea and Southampton have been in contact during the night. The Blues want to make the deal happen this week, and today will be an important day.”
“Despite two new arrivals in midfield, I see Carney Chukwuemeka staying at the club as Mauricio Pochettino is very happy with him. For Conor Gallagher, a move could be possible but it depends on the proposals they get.”
“But what happened with Liverpool? Liverpool spent two weeks negotiating with Southampton, they had the green light of the player, but for Lavia it was only a possibility, it’s not like he was saying he only wanted Liverpool.”
“Then when Chelsea entered the race they had a crucial figure in Joe Shields – he is one of the directors at Chelsea, and he almost created Lavia as a player because he was a director at Manchester City’s academy, and then a director at Southampton when he signed Lavia for them. Now Shields is at Chelsea and he is signing Lavia again, making a huge difference in this story.”
“Chelsea look set to close this deal for around £50m plus add-ons. They are discussing the structure of the add-ons and then the deal will be done. Liverpool did not have a deal done with Southampton, because they knew the player preferred Chelsea.”
“Liverpool will now move on to different targets. They keep following both Khephren Thuram and Manu Kone as they did earlier in the summer, but let’s see who they will ‘attack’ now. Of course they will try to limit leaks as it created an issue with the Caicedo deal and same with Lavia.”
“It’s an open race for Liverpool in midfield, but for sure they will sign at least one new player in that position. It’s worth saying that, as of tonight, I’m not aware of Liverpool bids for Tyler Adams – there is a clause, so it can be activated any moment. Bournemouth have activated the clause, they feel the player is keen on moving there, and so I see them as favourites to sign the Leeds midfielder.”
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