Southampton director of football Jason Wilcox says his outfit did accept a bid from Liverpool for Romeo Lavia.
The Reds reached a £60m agreement deal with the Saints for the 19-year-old but his preference is to join Chelsea even though no agreement has been made between Southampton and the Blues for the midfielder yet.
Liverpool have seen multiple bids rejected for Lavia by the Saints with the latest worth £46m. The South Coast club want £50m for the Beglium international but it seems they will pocket more than that.
Chelsea are reportedly close to reaching an agreement with the South Coast club for the signing of the young midfielder and are ready to offer £52m plus £3m in add-ons.
Speaking at the BBC Solent Fans’ Forum event at St Mary’s, Wilcox said (via HampshireLive): “I think you know, it’s well known that we’ve had some significant interest in Romeo, we’ve had an offer which we accepted from Liverpool.
“Then Chelsea came to the table. So we’re currently in negotiation with Chelsea now so it’s a real tricky period for Romeo. But I’m confident that something will get done in the next week or so or in the next few days.
“And I think, you know, when we look at what Romeo’s achieved here, I think every one of us here wouldn’t want to lose him but the reality is, we’re in the Championship and we need to reinvest and by buying Shea Charles, we’ve got another one who hopefully we can do the same with.
“So good luck to Romeo. Let’s say it’s not done yet. But we envisage in the next few days it will be completed.”
Lavia is yet to feature for Southampton this season amid interest from the Reds and the West Londoners.
The Belgium U-21 international moved to the St Mary’s Stadium last summer from Manchester City and has four years left on his contract. Pep Guardiola’s outfit are entitled to 20 percent of any fee received for his services.
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