Chelsea had a £50 million bid for Romeo Lavia rejected by Southampton on deadline day, just two months after the Saints signed the player from Manchester City.
Ralph Hasenhuttl's side signed Lavia from the Premier League champions in a deal worth £14 million in July and scored against Chelsea in Southampton’s 2-1 win over the Blues last week.
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Now according to the Southern Daily Echo, Chelsea made a late £50 million bid for Lavia on transfer deadline day, two days after the Belgian played against the Blues. However, Southampton rejected the offer.
Lavia’s former club, City inserted a £40 million buy back clause in the deal to sell the 18-year-old to Southampton, as reported by Sportsmail.
The former Anderlecht player moved to Southampton in order to play first team football regularly.
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He recently said to the Daily Echo: “I just came to kind of get experience and I'm getting the chance, I'm trying to give it back to the manager because he trusts me, so from my side I have to prove the manager is correct.”
However, Lavia now faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after sustaining a muscle injury during the 2-1 win against Chelsea. He is expected to be out of action until mid October at the earliest.
Saints boss Hasenhuttl spoke about Lavia’s injury recently.
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He said: “It is difficult to find the right balance of keeping that enthusiasm at a high level and sometimes step on the brake.
“Like now with Romeo when he's injured because maybe it was a bit too much, two games in three days on this high intensity level, for a young player like him who has to play in a different way, maybe more intense than in the second team of Man City.”
Hasenhuttl added: “It is a different challenge now for the young lads. You have to be careful not to overload them with the intense games that are coming up. But this is something they hopefully will get adapted to very quickly.”
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Despite failing to sign Lavia, Chelsea managed to snap up Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and Dennis Zakaria on deadline day.
Whilst Southampton added four players to their ranks, Duje Caleta Car, Samuel Edozie, Juan Larios and Ainsley Maitland Niles.
Southampton are next in action on Saturday as they host Brentford at the St.Mary’s stadium.
Topics: Chelsea, Southampton, Thomas Tuchel, Romeo Lavia, Manchester City
Marcus Chan