Liverpool may have been given fresh hope of landing one of their main summer transfer targets by his manager following a recent admission.
Romeo Lavia has been strongly linked with the Reds in recent weeks, amid reports of Southampton demanding £50m for the 19-year-old.
However, with the Saints’ squad boasting more than 30 players, new boss Russell Martin has conceded that the Championship club will need to offload a few in order to make things more manageable from a financial perspective.
As per Southern Daily Echo, the 39-year-old said: “We are having to be patient in a way because we do have to lighten the load, not purely just for training but financially as well for the club.
“It’s natural that people will have to start leaving otherwise we will end up with a huge squad and I don’t think that is beneficial to anybody. There have been some other clubs where that has happened, and it’s been quite detrimental to the club.
“We will have to see where we end up in terms of numbers. Things will start happening soon I am sure. The market has been really slow.”
Although Martin didn’t namecheck any players who may be offloaded by Southampton as they seek to trim their squad, it’d be no surprise if they eventually decide to cash in on Lavia.
Even if they end up lowering their £50m price tag for the Belgian, the Saints could still reap a healthy fee for him which’d enable them to acquire several modestly-priced transfer targets.
Having been relegated from the Premier League earlier this year, the south coast club still have a number of high earners on their books who they may be eager to move on so that they can cut their cloth accordingly for a Championship budget.
After hearing of Martin’s comments, Liverpool may deduce that the time is right to make another attempt at trying to sign Lavia, in the hope that Southampton’s need to sell players will see them accept a bid for the 19-year-old with which both clubs will be satisfied.
It could be interesting to see if the Reds duly act as they seek to bolster Jurgen Klopp’s midfield ahead of the new campaign.
#Ep82 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: Who do Liverpool replace Henderson & Fabinho with?