Chelsea are "really close" to completing the signing of a midfield star with "enormous potential" and could announce his arrival as soon as Tuesday, per transfers expert Fabrizio Romano.
Chelsea news – what is the latest?
It's been a ridiculous transfer window for the Blues this summer, and not in a bad way. The West Londoners kicked off their business by sanctioning what felt like a firesale of first-team players, with the club seemingly intent to ship off the squad that helped them win their second Champions League title only two years ago.
Players like N'Golo Kante and Edouard Mendy made their way to the absurdly wealthy Saudi Pro League. At the same time, others such as Kai Havertz, Mateo Kovacic and Mason Mount opted to stay in England and joined Premier League rivals instead.
With the squad adequately trimmed and the wage bill freed up, Mauricio Pochettino's side turned their attention to incomings and began splashing the cash.
There has been a real focus on youth this window, with the likes of Nicolas Jackson coming in from Villarreal, Lesley Ugochukwu from Rennes, Angelo from Santos and, of course, Moises Caicedo from Brighton & Hove Albion.
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The Ecuadorian was involved in potentially the most entertaining transfer saga in quite a few years when it looked like Liverpool might've hijacked his move with a £111m bid on Thursday night, only for the 21-year-old to stick to his word and join the Blues for a Premier League record fee of £115m.
And now it looks like Chelsea have taken a leaf out of the Reds' book as they look to have successfully hijacked the Merseysiders deal for Southampton starlet Romeo Lavia, with the 19-year-old making it very clear now that he wants the move to Stamford Bridge over Anfield, per transfers expert Fabrizio Romano.
He explained the situation around this £50m move and the influence of Joe Shields on his YouTube channel, saying:
"About Romeo Lavia, there is an important story, important news of the day, of the night, because Romeo Lavia communicated in a very clear way to all parties involved, Chelsea, agents, people from Southampton, of course, that he wants to join Chelsea.
"So, the decision has been made, and Chelsea and Southampton, in contact during the night, are really close to completing the agreement for Romeo Lavia; it's a matter of hours while I am speaking to see Romeo Lavia as a new Chelsea player.
"Chelsea's idea is to announce the signing this week. So after Caicedo, Chelsea also want to unveil Romeo Lavia as a new signing, and it could be Tuesday, the right day to make the deal happen.
"On this deal, Joe Shields has been absolutely crucial. Joe Shields is one of the directors at Chelsea and is the man who almost created Romeo Lavia as a player. He was a director at Manchester City Academy and signed Romeo Lavia, then joined Southampton as a director and signed Romeo Lavia for £12m, and now Joe Shields is at Chelsea, and he's going to sign Romeo Lavia.
"For Chelsea it's a huge deal because they will close this negotiation for something around £50m plus add-ons."
How much did Southampton pay for Lavia?
With the Saints set to sell their young Belgian for around £50m per Romano, they are set to make a profit of about £36m after deducting the £14m they spent to bring the youngster to the south coast and away from Manchester City last summer.
While it's undoubtedly a massive markup in price that the Blues are having to pay, he looks like he'll be worth every penny, and if he can reach the "enormous potential" that football talent scout Jacek Kulig believes he has, £50m might end up looking like a bargain.
According to WhoScored, in his 26 league starts last season, he scored one goal, took 0.4 shots per game, maintained a passing accuracy of 86.4% and averaged a match rating of 6.56, which considering he was tasked with playing in the centre of an incredibly dysfunctional Saints side is pretty impressive.
That said, it's his defensive awareness that elevates him above his peers, with the Brussels-born gem in the top 4% of players in Europe's top five leagues for making blocks, at 1.90 per 90, per FBref.
And then there's his mentality and determination, areas in which he has demonstrated real maturity, with Kulig hailing him as "the future midfield leader of Belgium NT and a top Premier League club."
If Chelsea can get this deal over the line, then with Enzo Fernandez, Lavia and Caicedo, they could have their midfield sorted for the next decade or more.
