Romeo Lavia has defended his decision to reject Liverpool last summer, but one of his former team-mates insists he made a mistake joining Chelsea over the Reds. The Belgian moved to Stamford Bridge in a £58m move from Southampton last August.
However, his switch came after Chelsea had already signed Moises Caicedo from Brighton & Hove Albion in a deal worth up to £115m.
Liverpool saw three bids rejected for Lavia, privately believing the then-teenager to not be worth their asking-price, before switching attention to Caicedo themselves. But despite agreeing an £111m deal with Brighton after the player suggested he was open to the move, the Ecuadorian then insisted he was only interested in signing for Chelsea.
The Reds would make a fresh attempt to sign Lavia as a result, and had a £60m bid accepted by Southampton. But the young Belgian followed in Caicedo’s footsteps by rejecting Liverpool in order to sign for Chelsea.
Struck down by injury during his first season at Stamford Bridge, the 20-year-old was limited to just one solitary appearance. But now back fit, he is looking to make up for lost time in the capital heading into the new season.
And while his decision to reject Liverpool’s advances last year was criticised at the time, Lavia has defended his choice and insisted he was only interested in signing for Chelsea – who had failed in an effort to sign him the previous summer – once he became aware of their interest.
“You’ve never had my version,” Lavia told the Athletic. “It’s all about what you read in the media. I had to read a couple as well and sometimes you knew more than me apparently!
“Listen, when I heard about Chelsea and it was from a long time ago before everything started, it was a no-brainer.
“Some stuff I was reading, I’m not going to say it was fake but my decision was Chelsea. The interest from Liverpool was there but, in my head, I wanted to play for Chelsea.”
He continued: “If you look at the teams, Chelsea is the one that is growing. Even though the results are not going like the other teams, you can see the bigger picture.
“When I saw a group of young and talented players that at their previous clubs had been the best players, it can only go well. Now I’m here, I realise it’s true.
“We are building something amazing. Everyone at the club can feel it, not just the players. Manchester City and all the teams that have been successful, they needed years to do that.
“I’m not saying we need the same years but it is not going to take two weeks. The confidence is there and then it’s about not looking at the other teams, but focusing on ourselves.”
However, Lavia’s former Southampton team-mate Theo Walcott made a mistake joining Chelsea, believing that Liverpool would have been the ‘perfect club’ for him.
“He’s a very talented footballer, very talented,” Walcott told BBC Radio 5 Live. “I saw him week in, week out – he trained his heart out, probably trained too much and then obviously got that serious injury.
“There was talk of him going to Chelsea and Liverpool, and I thought, as a player, Liverpool would be the perfect club right now. Their midfield at the time was rebuilding and it was a new structure.
“Players can make their choice, of course. His career’s stagnated a bit but he’s had a really good pre-season [at Chelsea] and I hope he plays. I always like to keep an eye on players I played with and I want them to do well, particularly players that are good lads, work hard and want to learn.
“But I just felt Liverpool was the perfect club for him at that time in his career if he was going to move on [from Southampton].
“I’m worried that he will be one of those Chelsea players that will just move on and you won’t hear much of him. The amount of players Chelsea are signing, there are good players who just won’t get a chance. They just won’t be seen or sent on loan to lower league clubs.”
