Chelsea didn’t beat Liverpool on the pitch last weekend, but they did beat them, twice, in the transfer market this week. Romeo Lavia joins Moises Caicedo as hot commodity midfielders wanted by both clubs who ultimately choose west London.
The Caicedo signing brought the total transfer spend under Todd Boehly above £1b (in just three windows) and the Lavia signing tacks £58m (53 base, 5 in add-ons) on more.
Roméo Lavia to Chelsea, here we go! Deal agreed between clubs on final fee short of £60m add-ons included — structure also agreed ????
Lavia will undergo medical tests this week, just informed by clubs that the agreement has been reached.
Roméo said yes to Chelsea on Monday. pic.twitter.com/sH9wlpYlnk
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 15, 2023
Once the medical is complete, this will be a done deal, with Manchester City scheduled to receive 20% of the profit that Southampton FC take in on this sale.
It’s due to the sell-on clause inserted into the deal that saw the City Academy product and young Belgian move to the south coast club.
Say what you want about Chelsea and their spending, and we’ve certainly said a lot, lately, but it is pretty shocking what they’ve been able to do here- signing Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia, over the course of just four days.
And they did it for a combined total of £173 million, which in two signings and half a week is WAY more than most big clubs’ entire summer transfer window budgets.
We didn’t most clubs, as that’s obvious, we said most big clubs. That’s Chelsea for you- Todd Boehly is the American Roman Abramovich.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
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