Liverpool agree £60m deal for midfielder, face battle to convince 19-year-old to snub Chelsea: Reports

Liverpool have reportedly agreed a deal to sign Chelsea target Romeo Lavia. The Reds have made a £60 million bid for the former Manchester City midfielder.

As per Jacob Steinberg of The Guardian, Liverpool are now working to convince Lavia that a move to Anfield is the better option. The Belgian has indicated that he wants to move to Stamford Bridge, but Chelsea are yet to reach an agreement with Southampton.

Jurgen Klopp's side are desperate to sign a defensive midfielder and have been in talks for Lavia. However, they had three bids rejected by the Championship side, with the highest being around £46 million.

The Reds switched focus to Moises Caicedo last week and tabled a Premier League record £111 million bid. They faced a shocking setback after the Brighton star rejected the chance to move to Anfield and decided to stick with his word of moving to Stamford Bridge.

The Anfield side have now gone back in for Lavia, but once again, they have to battle Chelsea, who are reported to be the midfielder's preferred club.

Liverpool told to make swift move for Chelsea target

Liverpool have been urged by Jamie Carragher to either pay up for Romeo Lavia or move to another target. He believes Liverpool are embarrassing themselves with the rejected bids. He tweeted:

"This is embarrassing. Liverpool for years now have got deals done quickly with no fuss. If you don't think he's worth 50M move on, if you really want him pay it. Also not sure why LFC aren't in for Caicedo, yes it's a lot of money but Liverpool got big money for JH/FAB".

Jamie Redknapp also believed that the club should be focusing on Lavia after the Caicedo saga saw Chelsea take the player. He said on the Sky Sports podcast:

"I think it makes it interesting for Southampton now. For them they will be going 'ok you want Romeo Lavia, you have to pay top dollar for him now'. They'll be on the phone to them now saying 'no you were always our first choice'. But it's been proven he wasn't. They will have to go back in from that perspective. Lavia is a player I really do like, but when you go in that strong for a player you have to be sure you'll get him."

Manchester City have a £40 million buy-back clause that comes into effect next summer. However, they also have a sell-on clause that gets them 20% of the sale this summer.