Liverpool ‘out of race’ for midfielder with Arsenal ‘ready to add’ Klopp priority ‘after Rice capture’
Arsenal are ‘ready to add’ Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia to their squad after completing the signing of Declan Rice, but face some fierce competition from Liverpool.
Rice is set to join Arsenal for a whopping £105million, which will make him the most expensive British player of all time.
The Gunners have already completed the £65m signing of Kai Havertz from Chelsea and are now close to adding Rice and Ajax defender Jurrien Timber.
With Granit Xhaka close to joining Bayer Leverkusen and Thomas Partey linked with an exit, Mikel Arteta could look to add another midfielder after completing the signings of the West Ham captain and Timber.
Lavia is one player who is being linked with a move to the Emirates and a report from The Times says Arsenal will try to sign him after Rice joins.
The 19-year-old joined Southampton from Manchester City for £12m last summer and his former club have a buy-back option worth £40m, though that does not become active until 2024.
READ: Arsenal targets worth £90m among players who could have buy-back clauses triggered soon
Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool are all interested and it is expected that the Gunners ‘expect to face strong competition’ from Jurgen Klopp’s side.
It has been reported that Championship new boys Southampton want as much as £50m for the Belgian, with some outlets claiming they would accept £45m.
Transfer insider Ryan Taylor thinks the Gunners are “reluctant” to pay that much for Lavia.
“As for Lavia, from what I understand, Arsenal are reluctant to meet the £45million valuation set by Southampton,” Taylor told GiveMeSport.
“And at the same time, the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea and there has been talk of United but I don’t know much on United’s interest.
“But I definitely know that Chelsea and Liverpool are interested and what they’ve told the player representatives is that if the asking price is lower that they would be potentially ready to sort of formalise their interest.”
Fabrizio Romano has said Liverpool are “keen on signing Lavia”, with Nice’s Khephren Thuram also on their list, though Arsenal are “still very interested”.
TalkSPORT reckon an opening bid from the Reds is imminent after ‘moving ahead of Chelsea’ in the race to sign him.
All of this comes on the same day Liverpool exited the race to sign Bayern Munich midfielder Ryan Gravenberch, which suggests Klopp is ready to push for the signing of Lavia.
This has been reported by German transfer expert Florian Plettenberg, who says Liverpool are “definitely out of the race” after holding talks with Bayern and Gravenberch’s representatives.
Plettenberg adds that Lavia is “one of the priorities” for the Reds and that Gravenberch “is not unsaleable” amidst interest from elsewhere.
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