Chelsea’s clause could force Liverpool to pay the full £50m for Southampton star

Liverpool may be forced to pay the full £50m fee for Romeo Lavia after all due to a sell-on clause inserted into Tino Livramento’s contract following his seemingly imminent £40m sale to Newcastle United.

The Reds have had two bids rejected so far and are looking to pay around £45m for the young midfielder, but the Saints aren’t budging in their resolve.

Despite being relegated to the Championship, they are holding out for a strong fee for one of their best performers last season and the 19-year-old is Liverpool’s main target for their vacant defensive midfield role.

While they have tried to bargain hard so far, they may now be forced to pay up or leave the deal as the club are set to sell right-back Livramento to Newcastle for a fee of £35m (plus £5m in add-ons) however, 40% of the profit Southampton make goes to Chelsea.

That will likely mean Southampton want to hold out for as much money as they can possibly get for Lavia to help boost their rebuild with others players still rumoured to leave ahead of a season where they will try to find their way back to the Premier League.

This was meant to be Liverpool’s ‘rebuild’ window, but so far it’s mainly seen a midfield upheaval in one direction as Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arthur Melo and James Milner have all departed.

Arriving in their place has been the midfield duo of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, but there is currently no senior player to cover the defensive midfield role. Curtis Jones was trialled there against Bayern Munich, but Klopp’s side lacked the stability in transition as they conceded four goals for the second time during pre-season.

Lavia is young and has just the one year of experience at the top level, but with just over a week until the return of the Premier League, Liverpool’s situation is becoming increasingly desperate - and the latest news here suggests they will have to front up and match Southampton’s valuation to finally end this questionable transfer saga.