Chelsea have had a busy day, even by their standards, so we have our club correspondents Simon Johnson and Liam Twomey discussing all the goings-on in our Live Room.
Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia will very much be on the agenda.
Lavia decides to join Chelsea over Liverpool
Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia has decided to join Chelsea.
Relations between the two clubs are good, so no issues are anticipated regarding an agreement.
A fee in the region of £50million plus add-ons is expected to seal the 19-year-old’s transfer.
Chelsea faced competition from Liverpool for the Belgium international, but the Anfield side are aware of Lavia’s choice.
Lavia would be joining another Liverpool target, Moises Caicedo, in moving to Stamford Bridge.
Caicedo is moving to Chelsea in a British record £115m deal, despite Liverpool seeing a £110m bid accepted by Brighton. The 21-year-old Ecuador international ultimately expressed a preference to play for the west London team.
Both Liverpool and Chelsea have also tabled previous bids this summer for Lavia, who has not appeared in Southampton’s opening two games of the 2023-24 Championship season.
Jurgen Klopp identified him as a potential replacement for Fabinho after the Brazil international recently completed a switch to Al Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League.
The Athletic reported on August 7 Liverpool had a third bid of around £46m rejected for Lavia.
Chelsea and Liverpool drew 1-1 at Stamford Bridge on Sunday in their opening fixture of the Premier League campaign.
Caicedo completes Chelsea medical
Moises Caicedo has completed his medical ahead of his £115million ($146m) move to Chelsea.
Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion finally reached an agreement over a deal for the 21-year-old on Sunday night.
The midfielder is set to sign an eight-year contract with the option of a further year. Brighton will also hold a sell-on clause as part of the deal.
Liverpool saw an £110m offer for the Ecuador international accepted by Brighton on Friday but the player’s preference was always a move to the London club.
Chelsea have pursued Caicedo all summer after seeing Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kante and Ruben Loftus-Cheek all leave the club.
Chelsea’s offer has seen them pay more up front than Liverpool with the add-ons expected to be very achievable.
