Chelsea complete £58m Lavia transfer from Southampton as they beat Liverpool to second target after Caicedo deal
CHELSEA have completed the signing of Romeo Lavia.
The deal sees the midfielder move to Stamford Bridge for £58million.
The Blues will pay £53m in total with a potential £5m in add-ons.
Lavia released a statement bidding farewell to Southampton, which read: "To Saints fans.
"As I say goodbye, I want to say a big thank you for everything you have given me during my time here.
"I've instantly felt the love from you all despite us not achieving our shared goals. I'll never forget the belief the club and Saints all around the world showed me and I hope I was able to repay the faith you put in me.
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"I would especially like to thank all my teammates and all staff members within the club involved closely or not for putting your arms around me since the day I walked through the Staplewood Campus and for all the daily work and help behind the scenes making me become a better person, athlete and football player.
"You have all played a massive part into making my integration into real professional football easier. I will be forever grateful to you.
";For those reasons, this club will always remain close to my heart.
"Good luck this season and I look forward to seeing the club marching back to the Premier League where it belongs very soon!
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"Thank you Saints. Roméo"
He also spoke to Chelsea's media team about his move, revealing his delight at joining the club.
The youngster said: "I’m really happy join Chelsea and be a part of this exciting project. It’s an amazing football club with a great history and I’m really excited to get started.
"I can’t wait to meet all my new team-mates and build a chemistry together to achieve great things together.
Lavia is the second midfielder Chelsea have signed from under Liverpool's noses in the space of a week after Moises Caicedo signed for Chelsea in a British transfer record fee of £115m.
The move now means Chelsea have spent £956.8m on new talent since Todd Boehly's arrival last year.
Lavia only joined Southampton from Manchester City last summer.
The 19-year-old shined in an otherwise disappointing campaign as the Saints were relegated.
He played 29 times, scoring once.
And thanks to his exploits former club City will now receive 20 per cent of the sale due to a sell-on clause.
The Belgian international's arrival will mean Chelsea have signed 28 players since Boehly took charge.
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But they appear to be far from done, with Chelsea also reportedly targeting Nottingham Forest winger Brennan Johnson.
That deal will see them come close to the £1bn mark in just three transfer windows.
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