The confusing Romeo Lavia ‘agreement’ reached, brings the Chelsea transfer saga to a close.

The most recent Stamford Bridge media briefing on Chelsea transfers, including commentary on the Ousmane Dembele and Romeo Lavia news.

In their pursuit of new players to join their roster for the 2023–24 season, Chelsea appears to be vying for nearly every player on the planet.

At this point, Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia are the two most prominent targets. Michael Olise is still a possibility, but Brighton have not yet confirmed Mohammed Kudus, and a new goalkeeper is also required. Everything points to the final three weeks of the summer window being very interesting.

Ousmane Dembele is a player they have sought out for a while but have been unable to sign.
Under Thomas Tuchel, a winger who had excelled at Borussia Dortmund was a candidate to join the club in 2022.
Chelsea moved to sign Dembele as his deal with Barcelona came to an end in June of last year.

Xavi’s side repeatedly obstructed their attempts to conduct pretty much any business, which led to the player’s retention on a new contract. Dembele joined Paris Saint-Germain after a year and several more rumors of a move to Stamford Bridge.

On Saturday, he signed a contract that will keep him in the French capital until 2028. He will now work with Presnel Kimpembe, Kylian Mbappe, and other international teammates and friends. It puts an end to a transfer saga with Chelsea and ushers in a new era for the 26-year-old.

football.london says: Dembele to Chelsea appeared to be on the table at times last year, and it appeared to make a lot of sense. Todd Boehly was just beginning his career as Barcelona was in the depths of its financial crisis in 2022.

In retrospect, it might have been best for them to stay away. Dembele’s talent is all but unquestionable, but his history of injuries is not. He missed more than 17 games just last season. Even back then, he led the league with five goals and seven assists, but fitness has always been his enemy.

Since breaking through at Rennes in 2015–16, consistency has also consistently eluded him; he has never scored more than eight league goals. Many people have found it difficult to watch Dembele’s career, and Chelsea is a clear potential destination because of their insistence on signing every promising winger available.

Dembele would undoubtedly be a lot of fun to watch, but with the new management, Pochettino’s demands for elite fitness, and the team’s work rate, Dembele isn’t a player that would fit the current setup.

However, there will be many more to follow in 2023, none more so than Romeo Lavia’s transfer saga, which ended in 2022. He was being pursued by Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, and it was also rumored that Manchester United was interested in him at the beginning of the summer. With a direct competition between the Blues and Reds for his signature, he is concluding it.

Who is in charge here is still a mystery. Even though Arsenal did briefly have a shot at the top spot before confirming Declan Rice, Liverpool seems to have been in the driver’s seat for the majority of the window, much like Chelsea with Moises Caicedo. It’s now a coin toss.

The most recent offer, reportedly above the £50 million ($64 million) valuation threshold, was made by Chelsea, but it’s unclear what will happen next. Personal entanglements with either side are not anticipated to be a problem, but Caicedo apparently thought the same before he threw the proverbial fan under the bus by declaring that he only wanted Chelsea.

Following a deal between Saints and Chelsea, some reports claim that a medical appointment for Lavia had been scheduled; however, David Ornstein has refuted these claims. He claims that since no agreement has been reached by either party, the situation is once again uncertain. He adds that Caicedo, 21, was supposed to have a medical on Friday as part of the deal with Liverpool, but that is no longer the case.

football.london says: What people really needed all along was for players to both be in talks with the same two clubs, for there to be points across a 72-hour window whereby both teams look set to sign one of the players, both players, or neither player pretty much at the same time.

Schrödinger’s transfer is happening right now, and it’s kind of mental. The need is there, and Chelsea has the resources to make it happen. Does it seem likely that Lavia will end up at Liverpool and Caicedo at Chelsea, creating the ideal balance that should exist, after all of this?

Despite the higher cost and fewer Brighton representatives to deal with, Lavia might be the simplest to complete. Although Caicedo is unquestionably the superior player, it is less certain what Caicedo’s value and potential are. They would undoubtedly be content with either player, but after making the effort to sign Caicedo, it would be a big disappointment to lose out on him.