Midfielder, Romeo Lavia has joined Chelsea in a £58m move from Southampton.
Chelsea spent recent weeks in talks with Southampton amidst tense competition from Liverpool who saw bids of £40m then £45m both rejected by the Saints for Lavia, who had only joined from Manchester City last summer.
Lavia went on to produce just one goal and assist in 34 appearances in all competitions for Southampton in his only seasona at St Mary’s Stadium, with his sole goal on the South Coast coincidentally coming in a 2-1 win at home to his new club in August 2022.
His assist meanwhile came in another home win as Southampton stunned his former team and eventual treble winners – Man City 2-0 in the Carabao Cup’s Quarter-Finals, en-route to their eventual semi-final exit against Newcastle United.
The 19 year-old however couldn’t help Southampton avoid relegation to the Championship at the end of last season, although he is yet to make an appearance this season amidst speculation over his future which has now been sorted.
Chelsea have paid an initial £53m fee to Southampton plus a further £5m in add-ons taking the total fee to £58m, with Lavia signing a seven-year contract until June 2030 at Stamford Bridge.
Prior to official confirmation of his move, Lavia shared a farewell post to Southampton fans on Instagram, praising them for playing ‘a massive part’ in his development over the last year.
View this post on Instagram
Lavia meanwhile told http://www.chelseafc.com that he is “really happy” to complete his move to an “amazing” club, and “can’t wait to meet all my new team-mates and build a chemistry together to achieve great things together.”
Chelsea’s Co-sporting directors, Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley added that the club “are very pleased” to sign Lavia, who they believed showed “maturity” across his time at Southampton last season and are confident he can create “an impact” this season and beyond.
Lavia could make his debut for Chelsea away at West Ham in a 4:30pm BST kick-off on Sunday 20 August, before his home bow could come against Luton on Friday 25 August at 8pm with both matches broadcast live on Sky Sports.
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