Right on: Fabrizio Romano confirms Liverpool could do a swap deal to sign a £50m player this summer – News Block

Right in: Fabrizio Romano confirms Liverpool could do a swap deal to sign a £50m player this summer

Liverpool are looking for creative solutions to meet Southampton’s £50m asking price for Romeo Lavia.

Having looked at various options and signed two players, Liverpool have apparently identified Lavia as the latest piece of their midfield rebuild.

However, with the Saints looking for a big number to sell the 19-year-old, the Reds have hit a snag. Now, according to Give Me Sport journalist Fabrizio Romano, Liverpool could offer Southampton a player swap deal to get around the £50m fee.

“For Romeo Lavia, the price tag is around £50m,” says Romano. “But the sources think that maybe, with some additions or with a creative formula like including some players, they (Liverpool) can find a way to reach an agreement with Southampton.”

With the Saints reportedly “resigned” to losing the Belgian, perhaps they would jump at the chance to help them in their promotion push with a Liverpool player on the books.

The Liverpool looks for the solution of Lavia
It’s no surprise to hear that Liverpool may be looking for a different kind of solution to get Lavia through the gate. £50m is a huge price to pay for a player with only 37 senior games to his name.

There have also been claims from The Athletic this week that the Reds need to get some players out before bringing more.

In that sense, a trade deal for Lavia would be the classic ‘two birds with one stone’ scenario. So, assuming Liverpool have tried this, the next logical question would be who they offer in return.

Obviously, the player who goes the other way now would have to agree to play at least one season in the Championship. As a result, he’s never going to be someone of equal quality to Lavia.

Looking across the Liverpool squad, the most likely departures this season have been Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, Thiago Alcantara, maybe Kostas Tsimikas. None of those go to the Championship, clearly.

Caoimhin Kelleher could be interesting, but as the Saints already have a young Irish goalkeeper, we don’t see that happening either.

So most likely it is a young player. Tyler Morton, Conor Bradley, maybe someone like that. But the Reds have high hopes for both. So personally, we can’t see how this would work. Raise the cash and do it, Liverpool