LONDON (AP) — Chelsea accomplished the signing of 19-year-old defensive midfielder Romeo Lavia from Southampton on Friday after agreeing to a reported switch payment of 58 million kilos ($74 million).

The Belgium worldwide signed a seven-year deal after reportedly rejecting a proposed transfer to Liverpool.

The spending spree at Stamford Bridge continues with Lavia arriving simply days after Chelsea signed Ecuador midfielder Moises Caicedo from Brighton for a reported 115 million kilos ($146 million). Caicedo’s signing took Chelsea’s spending on gamers to $1 billion in 15 months below its new American house owners.

The extremely rated Lavia has performed solely 29 occasions within the Premier League.

“I’m really happy to join Chelsea and be a part of this exciting project,” Lavia stated in Chelsea’s announcement. “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 teammates and build a chemistry together to achieve great things together.”

Lavia performed within the youth system at Anderlecht earlier than shifting to Manchester City in 2020. He transferred to Southampton final yr in quest of extra enjoying time.

Before a match in opposition to Saints in April, City supervisor Pep Guardiola acknowledged the Premier League champions almost stored him in Manchester: “We had, and we have, an incredible opinion about him. We thought to keep him, but maybe he would not (get) enough minutes like he has in Southampton.”

City will accumulate a portion of the switch payment due to a sell-on clause.

Lavia made 34 appearances general final season for Southampton, which was relegated after a last-place end. He made his Belgium debut in a pleasant in opposition to Germany in March.

Chelsea visits West Ham on Sunday after a season-opening 1-1 draw with Liverpool.

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