Chelsea are set to move for Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia.
The Lowdown: Lavia interest
The Saints only signed the 18-year-old in the summer from Manchester City for an initial £10.5m with the fee potentially rising to £14m and a 20% sell-on clause.
Remarkably on the summer deadline day, the Blues tried to sign the Belgian just a month after he moved to the south coast seeing an incredible £50m offer rejected, according to The Sun.
He’s featured only six times this season for the Saints due to injury, but has already proved his importance by scoring in their 2-1 win against Chelsea around the same time as the interest from the West Londoners emerged.
The Latest: January target
According to super-agent Haydn Dodge, who was speaking to Caught Offside, once Todd Boehly organises the senior staff on the board, the midfielder is going to become one of their top targets during the January transfer window.
“Once this change takes place, one of the players at the top of their list to bring in, in January will be Southampton’s Romeo Lavia, who, in my opinion, is a superstar in the making and Belgium’s future captain,” Dodge said.
The Verdict: Get him in
The one-time Belgium U21 international would be the perfect answer to potential centre-midfield issues that Graham Potter could face next season with both Jorginho and N’Golo Kante out of contract in the summer.
He’s already starring in the Premier League and showed the Blues the talent he possesses first-hand with his goal and subsequent 7.2 match rating against them in August, so far this season he’s averaged 1.8 interceptions per game and an 88.6% pass success – ranking second highest for both in the Saints squad.
He won’t come cheap with Southampton unsurprisingly not willing to part with their new signing, alongside a precarious position in the league which sees them currently sat in the relegation zone, but seeing him thrive at just 18, the Blues will be interested to see how high he can reach.
