Chelsea have made Southampton’s Romeo Lavia their number-one midfield target for the summer transfer window, according to reports in the UK.
It was widely believed that the Blues would make a move for West Ham captain Declan Rice but Lavia seems to have moved to the top of the club’s list of priorities. While Lavia is an exciting young player, the 18-year-old is pretty inexperienced and fans on Twitter are divided over whether he would be a good addition to the squad:
I AM ON MY KNEES
— (used to be) Champions of the World 🏆 (@CFC_SC) March 16, 2023
I rather see more experienced players now. They're looking so far in the future, they can't see how grim the present is.
— IvP🇧🇬 (@Iv13Petrov) March 16, 2023
Huge W
— RioPramudiarta (@riocfc1990) March 16, 2023
Please i don’t like this guy
— Silent Agbafian (@hazarddeen10) March 16, 2023
Get the deal as early as possible in time for preseason. Also, they should clear out the squad early enough. There is no need to take players who are gonna leave to preseason.
— DC (@CFCBoychild) March 16, 2023
Why Lavia? We already have A. Santos…
— uno (@er1ebnisse) March 16, 2023
This new recruitment just gets it . So far so good! Yes Rice would be amazing but I don’t see us getting him at the moment. I think Lavia is the one we should be all over!
— ChelseaNexus2023 (@IT_StephenCar) March 16, 2023
Lavia injury prone take dec for consistency and leadership
— Lord Seven 7 (@LordSeven71) March 16, 2023
Chelsea did actually make an approach for Lavia last year, but the Saints rejected the bid as he had only just arrived from Manchester City. It is believed the Citizens do have a £40m buyback option that they can trigger this summer.
Arsenal and Manchester United are also admirers of the Belgian but any team (other than City) will have to pay a sizeable fee to secure the midfielder‘s services.
