Chelsea’s So Solid MC, Aston Villa’s £55m superhero onomatopoeia, and Liverpool’s AI fears

It’s over. It’s finally over. After 380 matches and more twists and turns than a Jackson Pollock-designed corn maze, the Premier League season has reached its conclusion. Manchester City are champions, Leeds United, Southampton, and Leicester City are down, and some other teams finished in some other positions too. Thrilling stuff.

Now, though, as the sun goes down on another campaign, we turn - braced and afraid - towards the summer transfer window. Prepare yourselves, folks... this could get gossipy.

Chelsea keen on Lavia

On the list of famous Romeos, Southampton’s Romeo Lavia is beginning to ascend rapidly. He is still some way behind Montague and Beckham, but at the very least, he has leapfrogged the So Solid Crew MC. Then again, that fella’s real name is Marvin Dawkins, so perhaps he shouldn’t be on there in the first place.

Anyways, Lavia’s performances for the godawful Saints this season have been enough to attract the attention of Chelsea. Because of course they’re interested. He has a pulse, after all. According to Italian journalist Rudy Galetti, as per GiveMeSport, the Belgian teen is “top of [the Blues’] list and talks with Southampton have already started” over a potential summer transfer. The possible exits of Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mateo Kovacic are cited as motivation for pursuit of the midfielder.

The 3AM Verdict: To come out the other side of Southampton’s terrible, terrible campaign with some kind of reputation intact speaks volumes as to the promise that Lavia has shown. At just 19, he possesses boundless potential, and if Chelsea can negotiate a sensible price with the relegated Saints, this could prove to be a sound investment for both the short and long term.

Villa lead Torres race

Unai Emery’s restoration job at Aston Villa this season has been borderline heroic. How fitting, then, that the Spaniard’s first target of the summer transfer window is a man with a name that sounds like something that might pop up on screen as Batman slaps one of The Joker’s henchman right across the chops. Pau(!) Torres is said to be attracting admiring glances from Villa Park, with our good friend Galetti suggesting to GiveMeSport that the Villans are “leading the race” to sign him.

A fee of around £55 million is being touted by the Spanish press, and it is understood that Emery’s links with Villarreal could give him the edge in any potential tussle for Torres’ signature.

The 3AM Verdict: Torres is a player of unquestionable quality, and if Villa were to win the race to sign him this summer, it would be a real statement of intent. At £55 million, presuming that is his actual asking price, he would not come cheap, but equally, if Emery’s men are to kick on next term - both domestically and in Europe - these are the types of deals that they must be looking to strike.

Liverpool close in on Mac Allister

And finally, Liverpool are said to be ‘95%’ of the way towards completing a deal for Brighton’s World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister. That’s according to Football Insider, who suggest that the Reds could treble his wages in an effort to get an agreement over the line in the coming weeks.

In other words, if this report is to be believed, there is a 19 in 20 chance that the transfer happens. Ordinarily, those odds would be enough to convince onlookers that this is a virtual dead cert, but after the season they have had to endure, most Liverpool supporters won’t believe it until they see a tweeted scarf pic, and even then, in the age of AI mock-ups, that might not be enough to assure some of them.

The 3AM Verdict: There’s not much to say here. Whoever signs Mac Allister this summer is going to secure themselves a class act, and given the obvious need for Liverpool to revamp their midfield, a move to Anfield would make as much sense as anything else.