Liverpool Reportedly Bid £41M for Roméo Lavia

Photo by Matt Watson/Southampton FC via Getty Images

The Reds’ new bid for the 19-year-old Southampton midfielder is in—and it’s lower than many expected.

Liverpool’s second bid for Southampton’s 19-year-old Belgian holding midfielder Roméo Lavia is in, and it’s lower than many expected, with the total package reportedly ticking just up to £41M including all add-ons.

This comes after the Reds saw a bid totalling £38M with add-ons rejected by the relegated Saints and is short of the £50M Southampton value the player at, but with Lavia favouring the move and a year in the Championship looming, Liverpool aren’t the only ones facing pressure as they negotiate.

That’s the latest according to The Times’ Paul Joyce, with Sky’s Melissa Reddy confirming that the guaranteed portion of the fee remains south of £40M as Liverpool seek to drive a hard bargain despite their precarious position.

And that position is precarious, with Fabinho and Jordan Henderson having now both departed, leaving the club with no senior players with significant position to play the holding role and just two weeks now until the 2023-24 season kicks off.

While some will be eager for the Reds to up their bid further, the case of Dominik Szoboszlai and the pivot to him when Nice weren’t willing to lower their demands for Khéphren Thuram seem at least potentially telling.

In both the case of Thuram and now Lavia, Liverpool appeared to value the player at around the £35M mark. In both cases, the selling club wanted a fee in the £50M region. In Thuram’s case, rather than pay £50M for a player they valued at £35M, the Reds eventually pivoted to paying £60M for a player they valued at around £60M.

Whether the Reds’ new six is to be Lavia or someone else, though, the club have very little time to get the deal done if they want the player to even have a chance of getting up to speed in time for the season opener against Chelsea on the 13th.