Earlier, Italy's Romano announced two Chelsea-related deals in a row with the iconic "Here we go". First signed 19-year-old Southampton midfielder Lavia for a fixed transfer fee of £53m, plus $5 million float. The player will sign a 7-year contract. Manchester City have a 20% transfer share clause and will receive a transfer fee of £11.6 million.
Lavia's transfer has been a twist and turn. The player was Liverpool's main target at the beginning and he was also waiting for the call of the Reds. However, the two clubs tugged for more than a month on the transfer fee without success, after which Liverpool suddenly joined the battle for Caicedo and offered £110 million to cut off the beard. Unwilling to fail, Chelsea fought back, first raising the player's contract offer, and then raising the transfer fee offer, and succeeded.
Chelsea made another £58 million offer after taking Caicedo, cutting off Hulavia. After that, Liverpool was in a hurry and wanted to complete the counter-cut with a 60 million pound offer, but Southampton and the players chose to refuse, and Liverpool had no choice but to withdraw.
Coming through City's academy, Lavia left the team after not seeing the hope of gaining a foothold in the first team, joining Southampton in the summer window last year for a transfer fee of €12.3 million. He played 34 games for the Saints last season, performing well and garnering the attention of several Premier League giants. In the new season, he is likely to form a midfield partnership with Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, and the talent of the midfield trio of Chelsea is enviable.
Romano's second announced deal was Newcastle's loan-and-buy signing of Chelsea defender Hall for £35 million. It is reported that the buyout clause is mandatory and the players will then undergo medical examinations, while Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said Hall will be Newcastle's last signing this summer.
Although Chelsea are willing to spend money, they also have to admire their efficiency and quality in selling people. Chelsea spent a total of €385 million on signings this summer, but also earned €294 million in sales. Havertz's performance at Chelsea clearly fell short of expectations, but the sale to Arsenal collected 75 million euros, only 5 million less than when he bought it, which completely exceeded the outside world's expectations, and Arsenal was seen as the big culprit. Mount sold for a total of €70 million on his one-year contract, and the departure of these two players helped Chelsea capture Caicedo and a surplus of $29 million.
What is even more praiseworthy is that the 18-year-old youth player Hall, who is only worth 10 million euros, sold for a total price of 35 million pounds, which is about 41 million euros. This 1 in and 1 out is almost equivalent to Chelsea spending £23 million to win Lavia to complete the midfield upgrade. That is to say, Chelsea's sale of Kai Vertz did not meet expectations, plus Mount with only one year left on his contract and 18-year-old youth academy Hall in exchange for Caicedo and Lavia, which shows that Chelsea is really much better than Manchester United in terms of selling.
If Chelsea's summer window were over, their net investment would be just €91 million. There have been many voices questioning why Chelsea can spend so much money because they can spend it but they can sell it, and that's the answer.