The Southampton youngster remains a big summer target.
Liverpool are “still in contact” with Southampton over a summer move to Anfield, according to a fresh update regarding his potential arrival at the club.
Do Liverpool want to sign Romeo Lavia?
The 19-year-old enjoyed something of a breakthrough season for Saints last time around, even though they ended up suffering relegation from the Premier League to the Championship. He was a rare shining light for the south coast club throughout the campaign, doing his best to put out fires in his defensive midfield role and averaging 2.1 tackles per game across 29 league appearances.
Lavia is widely expected to leave Southampton before the 2023/24 season gets started, with the young Belgian understandably not wanting to be languishing in the second tier of England football for at least the next 12 months.
Liverpool have been constantly linked with a move for the teenager, seeing him as an ideal midfield option to come in and join Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai as new signings. With Fabinho and Jordan Henderson both seemingly on the verge of leaving the club and moving to Saudi Arabia, there is only an even greater need for reinforcements in the middle of the park.
A new update has now emerged over the Reds’ pursuit of Lavia, and following a quiet spell regarding the saga recently, it looks as though their interest has returned.
According to Football Insider, Liverpool are “still in contact” with the Saints youngster over a summer move to Anfield, holding “new talks”, and are hoping to sign him by “the end of the month”.
There is still interest from Arsenal and Chelsea, however, so the Reds will have to work hard to get their man, especially as the former can promise him Champions League football in 2023/24.
Lavia really does look like exceptional young footballer – one who has been described as “incredible” by none other than Pep Guardiola – so the idea of him in a Liverpool shirt is undoubtedly exciting. Granted, he won’t arrive on the cheap, but given his long-term potential, he could be worth every penny as the years pass.
At just 19, it is important to remember that the Belgium international is still a maturing footballer, though, so asking him to come in and be the Reds’ new regular No.6 could be a bit much so early in his career, given the step up in quality and the fact that every second of his time on the pitch will be analysed far more at Anfield than St Mary’s.
For that reason, Liverpool need to be bringing in Lavia as a squad player to begin with, in order to not put too much pressure on him and expect miracles from the off, with an older midfielder also arriving to add further midfield depth, whether it be Khephren Thuram, Manu Kone, Cheuick Doucoure or someone else.
This is an encouraging update, however, and Lavia is someone who could end up being the heartbeat of the Reds’ midfield for a long time, should he arrive this summer, blossoming into the perfect Fabinho successor.
With over a decade of writing under his belt, he has been part of Snack Media’s freelance team since 2020. He is also a main contributor for This Is Anfield, one of the world’s biggest Reds-related sites, where he writes features and news, and covers matchday content, from live blogs to the dreaded Player Ratings.
Henry is a Liverpool fan, which you may have guessed, and has also written articles for the Times and the Guardian, as well as featured on the radio on BBC Radio 5 Live and LBC.
Over the years, he has also accumulated nearly 30,000 followers on Twitter and become a known voice on all things Reds.
