BREAKING NEWS: ‘I tried everything I could to encourage him to join Liverpool , but it appears that His mind is made up already’: Endō has confirmed this, His international teammate has declined Liverpool’s offer to join the Chelsea in January and will receive £60 million for his services.

Romeo Lavia has chosen to join Chelsea ahead of Liverpool despite the Reds agreeing a £60million deal with Southampton for the Belgian midfielder.

football.london has been told Lavia has now chosen a move to Stamford Bridge and Joe Shields has a lot to do with that defining decision. The Blues’ director of recruitment and talent has been a prominent figure behind the scenes in negotiations with Lavia’s camp.

Shields, who used to be at Southampton where he was the head of senior recruitment, built a strong relationship with the 19-year-old midfielder at St. Mary’s. Now, Lavia looks set to follow Moises Caicedo through the door at Stamford Bridge despite Southampton and Liverpool agreeing on a £60million deal.

Chelsea are hopeful they can get the signing of Lavia wrapped up in the next 48 hours, football.london understands. Meanwhile, the club are set to announce the signing of Caicedo for a British record fee of £115million.

Like Lavia, Caicedo also rejected the chance to join Liverpool in favour of a move to west London. All going well, Mauricio Pochettino will be able to call upon both midfielders by the time his Chelsea team make the short trip to the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon to face West Ham United.

Once these two deals are officially over the line, with the Caicedo one just needing an announcement, Chelsea’s midfield options begin to look a whole lot more attractive. Pochettino will be able to call upon Caicedo, Lavia and fellow new signing Lesley Ugochukwu, as well as Conor Gallagher, Enzo Fernandez and Andrey Santos.