1 year ago
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Photo by Matt Watson/Southampton FC via Getty Images
Liverpool’s last confirmed bid for Lavia came last week before the Reds moved for Moises Caicedo following encouragement from his agent.
Roméo Lavia is set to join Moises Caicedo at Chelsea today after the Belgian agreed personal terms on an eight+ year deal. This comes following Chelsea agreeing a £55M transfer fee with Southampton for the 19-year-old over the weekend.
Liverpool fans who watched the club try to get Southampton to drop from their £50M asking price for much of the past month will be frustrated at seeing a second holding midfielder they were interested in joining the London Blues in as many days.
For the Reds, though, the last confirmed bid for the promising young player was lodged before they made their bold—or foolish, depending on who you ask—bid for Caicedo last week, an offer totalling £46M including add-ons that was rejected out of hand by the relegated Saints.
Reports on Monday of a supposed £60M offer for Lavia were only ever made by Chelsea-connected journalist Jacob Steinberg in The Guardian, with no confirmation of such a bid from the Liverpool end.
Some will take all of the available information and conclude that Liverpool didn’t confirm the bid as they knew at that point they were about to lose the player to Chelsea. Others will take all of the information and conclude that Liverpool moved on from Lavia when they bid for Caicedo.
Whatever the truth of the matter, though, what’s important is what comes next. It is likely not hyperbole to suggest that success or failure in the coming season for Liverpool will depend in large part on their ability to sign a holding midfielder in the coming weeks.
The situation also looks far different than it did at the start of the summer when Lavia was seen as the ideal player to support Fabinho for the coming season before potentially taking the starting role in 2024-25.
Now, Fabinho is gone. The club have at least £50M in hand from his departure and the departure of Jordan Henderson, both of whom headed to the Saudi Pro League with the bulk of their fees paid up front. They also have now made their failed British-record bid for Caicedo.
There may be players now under consideration who would have been considered too costly before Fabinho’s departure—and who would not have had then had clear place in the squad had they arrived while he was still at the club.
That could mean another swing for the fences as unexpected as last Thursday’s attempt to steal Caicedo away from Chelsea. For the time being, though, the club is doing its best to keep their next move quiet. Whatever it ends up being, an awful lot is riding on them getting it right.
