By appointing Mauricio Pochettino as head coach, Chelsea could unlock a huge boost towards signing Romeo Lavia. The 19-year-old was heavily linked with a move to Stamford Bridge late into the summer – just weeks after leaving Manchester City to join Southampton.
The Blues were ultimately unsuccessful in their mission to sign Lavia, but the Saints star remains firmly on the club's shortlist. football.london understands Chelsea are huge admirers of the teenage sensation and they've done extensive scouting research on him.
Lavia, who sees his contract at St Mary's expire in 2027, has featured 23 times for Ruben Selles' side this season, anchoring the Southampton midfield excellently. His impressive performances have not just attracted the attention of the west Londoners though, Pep Guardiola is also a big fan.
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Ahead of Manchester City's clash with Southampton earlier this month, the Spaniard said: "[We’re] really impressed with what Romeo [Lavia] is doing, we have an incredible opinion about him. We thought to keep him but we thought maybe he doesn’t get enough minutes like he’ll get in Southampton."
With the Premier League champions well aware of the Belgian's talents, the Daily Mail have revealed that City inserted three clauses into Lavia's contract on the south coast; a 20% sell-on clause, a £40 million buy-back clause and the ability to match any future bids. This hands Chelsea a significant blow to any hope they had of signing the wonderkid but, with Pochettino in the dugout, the Blues' could still stand a better chance than his former team.
Speaking on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football at the start of the month, Gary Neville claimed that the former Spurs boss would work best with a young squad. He said: "Everything that Chelsea and [Todd] Boehly are saying is they've spent £600million and they've done their spending, apart from a centre-forward, for the next three years.
"If they appoint [Zinedine] Zidane, [Diego] Simeone, [Luis] Enrique, they're going to want another £300m because they won’t like some of the players they've signed. They have to appoint a manager who is going to inherit and like the squad that they've got – I think that man, because a lot of them are young, is Pochettino."
In March, Lavia responded to speculation over his future at Southampton. He was quizzed on the possibility of rejoining City, but he quickly shut down the reports and insisted that it's 'too early to consider'.
"I didn't want to prove anything, I was concentrating on my path," Lavia said, as reported by Belgian publication DH. "I'm proud to be here, I now want to try to scratch the minutes. Not being called up for the World Cup? I took it calmly, I waited for my moment and today I'm here."
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