Southampton make Lavia position clear ahead of third Liverpool bid
Southampton are understood to consider Romeo Lavia as ‘the best young No.6 in the world’.
This comes courtesy of Paul Joyce at The Times, with the Reds yet to meet the Saints’ valuation for the Belgian international.
“Klopp has been boosted by the return to training of Thiago Alcântara and Stefan Bajcetic, both of whom missed the trip to Singapore, and their recovery is well timed with Liverpool facing problems in midfield,” the reporter wrote.
“Two bids for Southampton’s Roméo Lavia have been rejected, the second of which reached £41 million but still fell short of the Championship club’s £50 million valuation of the 19-year-old.
There is an element of expectation that the Merseysiders will come a lot closer to meeting expectations the third time around – an eventuality fans will be crossing their fingers for as a league opener against Chelsea looms ever closer.
At 19 years of age, many an eyebrow has been raised over our dogged pursuit of Lavia this window.
Can the Brussels-born midfielder suitably replace one of the best specialist number sixes of his generation?
It’s a question that will be running through the mind of every single supporter between now and the close of the transfer window.
Given Fabinho’s collapse in performance levels prior to the introduction of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s hybrid role, we’d dare venture that this probably isn’t entirely impossible.
That said, we’d be inclined to draw comparisons to the player that helped inspire Liverpool to multiple cup wins and a first Premier League title in 30 years.
In that case, Lavia has a lot to live up to, not to mention quite the baptism by fire ahead of a season that demands an instant improvement on a prior campaign that was a far cry from the dizzying heights of 2021/22.
#Ep83 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones
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