Chelsea are reportedly ‘closing in’ on a deal for Southampton star Romeo Lavia.
The 19-year-old only moved to Southampton from Manchester City in the summer for around £11m and could already be on his way out of St Mary’s after his impressive displays this season.
Indeed, he could actually have moved to Chelsea immediately after joining the Saints, who turned down a deadline day bid of £50m from the free-spending Blues for the teenager.
Liverpool and Arsenal have since reportedly stated their interest in Lavia, who has just earned his first call-up to the Belgium national team, but Belgian journalist Sacha Tavolieri claimed last month that the ‘intense pressing’ was coming from Chelsea.
Tavolieri tweeted: ‘Selected for the 1st time by Domenico #Tedesco , Roméo Lavia is the subject of intense pressing by #ChelseaFC . As we reported to you in December, #CFC wants to accelerate and this week met the entourage of #DiablesRouges in Belgium. #mercato’
And now Football Inside claim Chelsea are ‘closing in’ with talks ‘continuing with those around Lavia with the aim of being in pole position to complete a deal when the transfer window opens’.
Manchester City have a buy-back clause for the teenager, but that doesn’t become active until the summer 2024, prompting Chelsea to push ahead with the deal now.
Southampton are resigned to losing their star asset whether they avoid relegation or not.
Ahead of City’s recent win over Southampton, Guardiola hailed Lavia’s impact in the Premier League this season, revealing that he would have liked wot have kept him at the Etihad.
“I’m really impressed with what Romeo is doing. We have an incredible opinion of him,” said Guardiola.
“We thought to keep him but we didn’t have enough minutes for him that he could get at Southampton.”
Lavia missed a big chunk of the season through injury, but has still managed 20 games in his debut campaign for the Saints, scoring his only goal in their win over Chelsea back in August.
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