Southampton have rejected Liverpool’s opening bid for Roméo Lavia, thought to have been worth about £35m plus add-ons, with the club holding out for a £50m package for the teenage midfielder.
Lavia shone despite relegation after joining from Manchester City last summer. Liverpool are overhauling their midfield and identified the 19-year-old Belgium midfielder, who also has admirers at Chelsea, as a key target. They are expected to return with a second offer.
Southampton, who kick off the Championship season at Sheffield Wednesday next Friday, have a bloated squad but are uninterested in selling off their assets on the cheap. James Ward-Prowse is of interest to West Ham, Che Adams to Crystal Palace, Tino Livramento to Newcastle and Mohammed Salisu to Fulham.
Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai have arrived at Anfield this summer but James Milner, Naby Keïta and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have departed and Liverpool are in talks to sell Jordan Henderson and Fabinho to clubs in Saudi Arabia. Fabio Carvalho has left on loan.
Lavia featured for 45 minutes of Southampton’s 3-2 pre-season friendly defeat to Bournemouth on Tuesday night and the manager Russell Martin praised his midfielder for playing, in spite of the distractions.
Martin said: “I thought Romeo, considering what’s going on, to play tonight and do all that stuff, it was good for him to get on the pitch as he has not had the minutes other people have had. You can ask for an update but I can’t give you one because I don’t know.”
