Liverpool’s Romeo Lavia second bid faces Man City hurdle in Southampton talks

Liverpool will have to stump up the same figure Manchester City would have to pay in their buyback clause for Romeo Lavia in order to get Southampton to sell, according to reports. Lavia has emerged as Liverpool’s first-choice target to come in as their third midfield signing this summer.

The 19-year-old was relegated with Southampton to the Championship last season. But the south coast side aren’t letting their demotion to the second tier of English football lead them to be pushed around in the market for their best players.

Liverpool saw their first bid of £37million rejected by Southampton, with a second approach expected to be made. Talks are ongoing between the two clubs and the Saints have reportedly set their benchmark at £40m.

According to Belgian journalist Sacha Tavolieri, Liverpool remain confident an agreement can be reached with Southampton on a fee. It was originally claimed that Southampton were holding out for close to £50m, but Tavolieri insists they are seeking a ‘fixed fee of £40m’.

The report points out that it’s the exact same figure in City’s buyback clause for Lavia, which would be active in 2024. Southampton are also wary of having to give up some of the money they receive from Lavia’s sale to City.

As well as the buyback clause, City also inserted a 20 per cent sell-on fee for any future transfer in Lavia’s move to Southampton last year. If Southampton manage to get a fixed fee of £40m from Liverpool for Lavia then £8m of that would then go to City.

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City already received £10.5m from Southampton for Lavia when he left the club 12 months ago. Lavia was involved for Southampton in their friendly against Bournemouth on Tuesday night and Russell Martin was asked about the midfielder’s future at St Mary’s.

He 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. I’m going to speak to Jason (Wilcox) now but I’ve been preparing for this game. I’ll only ever be honest with you guys but I’m yet to find out.”

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