Chelsea submit £48m bid for Liverpool - but there's a silver lining for Liverpool

Chelsea submitted a £48 million bid for Romeo Lavia on Wednesday evening, according to several reliable sources, with Liverpool no longer favourites to sign the Belgian.

Southampton have been adamant all summer that they will not accept lower than £50 million for Lavia yet Liverpool have wasted three weeks lowballing the Championship side.

Their first offer was worth just £34 million up front (with a measly £4m in add-ons) and was immediately rejected. As were Liverpool's next two offers worth £42 million and £45 million respectively,

Chelsea are now the closest to reaching Southampton's valuation and with the Blues set to host Jurgen Klopp's side in the first game of the 2023/24 Premier League season.

Fabrizio Romano reports: "Chelsea have submitted formal bid to Southampton for Roméo Lavia worth £48m fee.

"Negotiations ongoing between clubs as Liverpool last proposal was worth £45m and rejected."

What are Liverpool's next steps to sign Lavia ahead of Chelsea?

Liverpool need to decide whether they want Lavia or not and go from there.

If they want him as badly as their three bids suggest, they now have to acquiesce and pay the £50 million that Southampton have been clear they will have to pay.

If they don't want him, they must move on.

As Jamie Carragher said recently: "If you don't think he's worth £50m, move on. If you really want him, pay it."

The good news, as per the latest update from Sacha Tavolieri, is that Lavia has been convinced of a move to Liverpool at least as recently as Wednesday evening.

The silver lining is that if Liverpool and Chelsea both agree a fee with Southampton, he may prefer a move to Anfield.

While Chelsea are financially more powerful than Liverpool, moving to Merseyside is undoubtedly the better option for a 19-year-old.

Lavia can be certain that he will play as many minutes at Liverpool as he did at Southampton last season given the dire state of their midfield this summer.

If he were signed without another midfielder coming in, he would be a guaranteed starter alongside Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister.