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Chelsea are reportedly «closing» a deal for Southampton star Romeo Lavia.
The 19-year-old moved to Southampton from Manchester City in the summer alone for around £11m and could already be leaving St Mary’s after his impressive performances this season.
In fact, he could have actually moved to Chelsea right after joining the Saints, which rejected a £50m deadline day offer from the Blues at free spend for the teenager.
Liverpool and Arsenal have since declared their interest in Lavia, who has just earned his first call-up to the Belgium squad, but Belgian journalist Sacha Tavolieri said last month that the «intense pressure» was coming from Chelsea.
Tavolieri tweeted: ‘Chosen for the first time by Domenico #Tedesco, Roméo Lavia is under intense pressure from #ChelseaFC. As we told you in December, #CFC wants to accelerate and met the #DiablesRouges entourage in Belgium this week. #market’
And now Football Inside say Chelsea are «getting closer» with talks «continuing with those around Lavia with a view to being in pole position to finalize a deal when the transfer window opens».
Manchester City have a buyout clause for the teenager, but it won’t become active until the summer of 2024, prompting Chelsea to move forward with the deal now.
Southampton are resigned to losing their star asset whether they avoid relegation or not.
Ahead of City’s recent win against Southampton, Guardiola hailed Lavia’s impact in the Premier League this season, revealing he wished he hadn’t kept him at the Etihad.
“I’m really impressed with what Romeo is doing. We have an incredible opinion of him» Guardiola said.
«We thought about keeping him but we didn’t have enough minutes for him to get to Southampton.»
Lavia missed much of the season with injury but still managed 20 games in his debut season for the Saints, scoring his only goal in a win over Chelsea in August.
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