Southampton have been quite clear in their terms for Romeo Lavia, yet it seems Liverpool are not prepared to get serious in their pursuit of the midfielder, which the Liverpool fans see as Saints being stuborn rather than their own club's inability to put money on the table.
Earlier today we suggested that Liverpool were about to up the ante in the bidding for Romeo Lavia and a new improved offer was about to land on the St Mary's table, that bid has arrived and according to Mail Online it has been rejected out of hand by Southampton.
They say that £41 million has been offered and subsequently rejected and that Southampton have told Liverpool that £50 million is their price.
Of course that is open to negotiation, but Liverpool seem to be hesitant at offering anywhere near that amount and are increasing their offer slowly but surely, which is only going to lead to delays.
Liverpool seem to be playing on the fact that Lavia is keen to move to Anfield and relying on him demanding to move to keep the price low, shades of their pursuit of Virgil Van Dijk here in 2017 when there tapping up of the Dutchman led to Saints refusal to sell in the summer window and forced Liverpool to up their offer massively from around £50 million to £75 million.
Liverpool fans though are not happy, not with their own club though, but with Southampton FC who they see as being stubborn for not rolling over to Liverpool's demands and allowing a player to get his wish tom join them.
rousingthekop.com say:
"The Belgian international is keen on a move to Liverpool, and with less than two weeks to go before the start of the new season, Lavia being signed up as soon as possible could be key for Jurgen Klopp’s plans.
"As we know, a replacement for Fabinho is needed at Anfield, and Lavia fits the bill perfectly, but Liverpool first have to agree on a fee with Southampton for the former Manchester City star.
"Indeed, Lavia is keen on moving to Liverpool with Southampton’s stubbornness the only thing keeping the transfer from going through, yet this offer could change that.
"£42m is a good fee for a player with just one season of Premier League football under their belt, and Southampton could accept the bid to stop this transfer saga from continuing any longer than it should.
Their view is clear, Saints should just accept the bid and not hold out for top money due to Lavia's inexperience, however they have short memories, they paid around £35 million to get Sadio Mane back in 2016, Mane was a little older than Lavia and had experience in Europe, but only two seasons in the Premier League, if Mane was worth that 7 years ago, inflation alone would push that transfer fee over £40 million.
Likewise the Virgil Van Dijk saga should show that if a club is serious about getting the right players in, they should not play games with the selling club.
Lavia though younger than those two, is a greater talent, Saints know that if he stays another season then his value will soar and £50 million could well look a bargain this time next year, adding on sell on fees is worthless to us, how long would it take to see that come through, Sadio Mane's took 6 years and Van Dijk's will never happen as he is worth far less now at 32 than when we sold him.
Liverpool fans are under the impression that we need to sell, that we would rather £42 million than Romeo Lavia, that could not be further from the truth, the club and it's fans would prefer Romeo Lavia to stay and help with our promotion bid, a task that will be a lot easier with him in our ranks and if successful would probably see us batting off bids of double the amount Liverpool are offering now.
Liverpool as they did in 2017 are hoping that the players desire to join them will keep the price down, they hope that Lavia will be as petulant as Van Dijk and pose for pictures looking moody on a private jet after talks with Jurgen Klopp that constituted an illegal approach back them.
The tactics did not work then and won't work now, if Liverpool are serious about challenging Manchester City and the emerging Newcastle United, both clubs with more money than they can spend, then they can't afford to play games and make derisory offers.
Southampton have now made it clear what the starting asking price for Romeo Lavia is, Liverpool are £10 million short of that at the moment, a small price to pay if they want to get off the ground running for the coming season and not be playing catch up.
If Romeo Lavia stays at St Mary's to the final day of the summer transfer window, he could well get us off to a great start that set us up for the season and help us to promotion.
For Liverpool the opposite is true, if he isn't in a red shirt during that time they may well have seen any hopes of a 2nd Premier League title go out the window by then.
The solution to this problem is simple, only one club is being stubborn here and it is not Southampton FC.