Championship side Southampton has prepared the barricades this summer for as long as possible as St. Mary’s comes under assault for two of its most-prized assets on the south coast after the club initially rebuffed advances for both James Ward Prowse and Roméo Lavia.
Despite Saints failing to avoid the drop to the second tier of English football after an abysmal 2022-23 Premier League campaign, both Ward-Prowse and Lavia remain highly coveted by clubs in the nation’s top-flight competition.
As first reported early this morning by highly reputable Belgian football insider Sacha Tavolieri and then later confirmed by The Athletic’s David Ornstein, Saints turned away Liverpool’s initial first bid of £35m for Lavia, who has already agreed to personal terms with the Reds surrounding an expected move to Anfield.
🔴🚨 #LiverpoolFC finally starts the talks with #Southampton for Romeo Lavia !
🇧🇪 Belgian midfielder’s side just agreed on personal terms. These days, Romeo Lavia was waiting for the green light of #LFC Board and was a little annoyed that it was dragging… It moved now!
💰… https://t.co/9jCU1Rnegp pic.twitter.com/kBnvtx6lrt— Sacha Tavolieri (@sachatavolieri) July 25, 2023
Southampton are hoping to secure a fee of around £50m, but there are suggestions that both clubs could reach an agreement on a fee somewhere in the middle for the 19-year-old Belgian international starlet.
As for club captain James Ward-Prowse, the England international is the subject of serious interest from West Ham United as the Hammers look to retool the center of the park in the wake of Declan Rice’s departure to Arsenal.
West Ham is hoping of securing JWP as well as Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher in a bid to add quality and depth under David Moyes, which could see Czech international Tomáš Souček gradually moved away from as a guaranteed first-choice option at the London Stadium.
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