Chelsea remain interested in Southampton midfielder Roméo Lavia, but the Saints current ‘high demands’ are making a transfer unlikely.
That’s according to Het Laatste Nieuws, who cover the potential transfer today and how Southampton are refusing to play ball.
They explain that Chelsea have been interested in Lavia since last year, when a broker on behalf of the club made a ‘verbal bid’ for the player following his debut in the Premier League.
That was laughed off by Southampton, but the Blues have remained keen, particularly as an ‘old acquaintance’ of the player, Joe Shields, who knows the player well from his days at Manchester City, now holds some sway at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea want a new midfielder to go alongside Enzo Fernández and have ‘several irons in the fire’ in that regard, including Lavia.
However, any move for him is not being helped by the ‘inflexible attitude’ adopted by Southampton. They will only listen to a bid approaching €60m, ‘high demands’ for a player who cost them €12.3m last summer.
That is an amount ‘Chelsea will not pay’ after spending more than €600m on signings last season, with savings the priority for Todd Boehly and co at this moment in time.
He needs to trim the squad and bring costs back down as the club are in danger of exceeding the financial limits imposed by the Premier League.
Thus, unless Southampton move, which seems unlikely, Lavia remains an unattainable goal and other options, such as Everton’s Amadou Onana, will be looked at.
