Romano reveals Chelsea could threaten Liverpool transfer as Blues refuse to ‘overpay’ for PL star

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano insists Chelsea are still paying close attention to Romeo Lavia’s situation as they struggle to agree a fee for Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo.

The Blues have been interested in signing the Ecuador international for much of this year with the Premier League side trying to sign Caicedo in January, at the same time as Arsenal.

Caicedo ended up staying in the winter and subsequently signed a new contract at the Seagulls, presumably on the proviso that he could leave in the summer.

But the Brighton midfielder is currently finding it very tricky to leave the Amex Stadium with Chelsea now having three bids rejected for the 21-year-old.

A report today has claimed that Caicedo is ready to ‘ask’ Brighton to ‘lower’ their £100m asking price for him in order to engineer a move to Chelsea.

Romano has brought the latest on a potential deal with the Italian journalist revealing that Chelsea are still eyeing up a move for Southampton’s Lavia.

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The Saints have set their asking price at £50m for the the Belgium international and Liverpool have already failed with a £37m offer earlier this week.

Romano wrote in his Caught Offside column: “On Thursday morning Chelsea submitted a new official bid to Brighton for Moises Caicedo: £80m. This was the package proposed by Chelsea, which included add-ons, but £80m fee.

“From what I’m told, after a few minutes Brighton immediately decided to reject the proposal. They want way more than this so at the moment there has been no agreement for Caicedo.

“Chelsea are trying again, I always said the negotiation is ongoing and this is my information – that the negotiations are not stalling now, nothing is off. What I can confirm is that Caicedo is pushing to go to Chelsea but of course Brighton’s position is they want big money, and with Chelsea, their position is they don’t want to overpay.

“They’re still speaking, they’re still talking and I still expect some contacts in the next days for Moises Caicedo. Then at some point it’s going to be time to decide, for sure. Let’s see how the future contacts will go and what outcome we will have from this situation.

“It’s also important to say that as of today – as we see around in the English press – that Chelsea are also looking at some alternatives. This is absolutely normal. They always do this, top clubs in general.

“They have a top target and they have some alternatives. I always told you that Chelsea are keeping an eye on the situation of Romeo Lavia but Liverpool are ahead in this race at the moment.”