Romeo Lavia, a £50m Southampton star, is now being chased by Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool, according to sources.
The 19-year-old merely signed a five-year contract to join Southampton from Manchester City last summer, but when they were demoted to the Championship, it appears that he will leave St. Mary’s quickly.
While Liverpool is preparing a proposal for Lavia and has been in touch with the defensive midfielder’s representatives, Chelsea has already begun talks with Southampton about a trade.
However, it has now been claimed that Arsenal has also spoken with Lavia and has a “excellent relationship” with his team. The Gunners are reportedly very interested in luring Lavia to the Emirates and have ‘concrete and strong interest’ in doing so.
Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka are both expected to leave the club in the next few weeks, so the north Londoners are in the midst of something of a midfield renovation and are prepared to cash in on them this summer.
Manchester United is rumored to admire Lavia but isn’t pursuing the matter, and City’s buy-back provision is only in effect until 2024.
Since Lavia is one of Southampton’s most prized assets, they want to ensure that they make the most money possible when he eventually goes, and they may be asking for as much as £50m for him.
This is partially due to the fact that his contract, which was inked after leaving City, contains a number of stipulations, one of which states that his old team will get a quarter of any sell-on proceeds.
After Southampton was demoted, Premier League clubs are also likely to make offers for players like James Ward-Prowse, Kyle Walker-Peters, and Tino Livramento, although the Saints are pushing for high sums.
The south coast club is looking to receive £50m for Ward-Prowse given the interest from clubs like Newcastle and Aston Villa.
