Romeo Lavia’s identify was hardly ever removed from the headlines throughout the summer time of 2023, however he’s since been at risk of turning into one thing of a forgotten man.
Liverpool had a number of bids rejected for the then-Southampton midfielder after their relegation from the Premier League, and finally it was Chelsea who received the switch race for the younger Belgian, snapping him up in a £58m deal (BBC Sport).
Nonetheless, persistent damage issues restricted the 20-year-old to a solitary 32-minute look in his first yr at Stamford Bridge, though he’s featured abundantly for the Blues in pre-season in current weeks.
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Lavia has now opened up on his resolution to maneuver to Stamford Bridge a yr in the past in an interview with The Athletic, taking an indiscreet swipe over a number of the reporting across the switch.
The midfielder mentioned: “You’ve by no means had my model. It’s all about what you learn within the media. I needed to learn a pair as properly and typically you knew greater than me, apparently!
“Hear, after I heard about Chelsea and it was from a very long time in the past at the start began, it was a no brainer. Some stuff I used to be studying, I’m not going to say it was pretend, however my resolution was Chelsea. The curiosity from Liverpool was there however, in my head, I needed to play for Chelsea.”
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That Liverpool had been prepared to pay £46m for Lavia (the worth of the third and closing bid that Southampton rejected) regardless of him taking part in simply 36 senior video games at that time illustrates simply how extremely he was regarded at Anfield, and the way desperately we wanted a defensive midfielder 12 months in the past (and nonetheless do now).
The damage anguish that the Belgian has endured ever since his transfer to Chelsea is one thing we wouldn’t want on any participant and has led to an unfair billing of him as an costly flop in some quarters, though LFC chiefs may now be relieved that they didn’t splash out for the 20-year-old.
The next acquisitions of Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch demonstrated that the Reds swiftly moved on from dropping out on the ex-Saints prodigy, and if his desire all alongside was to signal for the west Londoners, then we had been all the time onto a dropping horse by pursuing him.
It simply wasn’t meant to be for Lavia and Liverpool, and even in our want for one more quantity 6 after the failed pursuit of Martin Zubimendi, the Belgium worldwide received’t be coming to Anfield any time quickly.
After the horrendous yr that he endured, we hope that his damage woes at the moment are behind him and that he could make up for misplaced time…simply so long as it’s not at LFC’s expense after we tackle Chelsea!
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