Chelsea have made a £48m bid for Romeo Lavia, going closer to Southampton’s £50m valuation and hoping to trump Liverpool. The last few weeks have seen the Anfield club make a series of incrementally improving offers, but they are still at least £4m off a deal. With Mauricio Pochettino seeking to re-energise Chelsea’s midfield, he has long wanted to bring in two midfielders, and the hope is that Lavia will join Brighton’s Moises Caicedo at Stamford Bridge. There is also a personal connection since the 18-year-old has a great relationship with Joe Shields, the recruitment executive who brought Lavia to Southampton and is now at Chelsea. Liverpool, who travel to Chelsea in their Premier League opener on Sunday, have been frustrated in their attempts to sign the 19-year-old midfielder and have seen three bids rejected for a player who has made just 29 top-flight appearances. After their initial two offers of £34m plus £4m and £42m were turned down, the Reds returned with a proposal worth £46m but that too was rejected by the Championship club. Lavia joined Saints from Manchester City last summer as an 18-year-old for an initial £10.5m. The Belgian made his international debut earlier this year when he was called up by the Red Devils for the Euro 2024 qualifier against Sweden and a friendly against Germany. Lavia shone throughout last season, despite Saints' relegation, featuring 29 times and scoring once. Liverpool are in the market for a midfielder after the sales of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho, with Jurgen Klopp underlining the need to further protect his defence. “That would be not a bad idea," Klopp said last month when asked about midfield reinforcements. "We know that we have to do something there, it is absolutely clear. We are obviously working on solutions.” Chelsea have meanwhile made progress in talks to sign Caicedo but Brighton are now holding the London club to a demand of £90m basic fee. The Blues would then have to add a further £10m to be made up in bonuses and expected clauses. The saga has continued with little movement throughout the summer, as Chelsea have proven reluctant to go beyond £80m. While Brighton, who rarely deviate from their initial asking price, have seen the nature of the talks revolve around pushing Chelsea to go closer to their valuation. There has now been some breakthrough on the structure of a potential deal though, but the expectation is that the Stamford Bridge hierarchy will eventually have to go further and make a £90m-plus offer. Chelsea are hoping to get it done before Sunday’s season opener at home to Liverpool, as Mauricio Pochettino is eager to add more energy to his midfield. Read More Chelsea make Moises Caicedo breakthrough over structure of Brighton transfer West Ham enter race for Folarin Balogun as Arsenal set transfer price Barcelona explore sensational Neymar return as PSG set price for Brazilian superstar

Grimes has opened up about raising her children with ex, Elon Musk, with the musician revealing that their three-year-old son “knows a lot about rockets”. The singer, 35, spoke candidly about co-parenting with the Tesla CEO during her cover story interview with Wired, published on 8 August. Along with their three-year-old, X Æ A-12 - who goes by “X” - the former couple shares a one-year-old daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl, who goes by “Y”. While speaking to Wired, Grimes was asked about Musk’s “weird kind of protégé thing going on” with their son, as he’s taken him to “meetings” and work events before. However, Grimes said that she’s “here for that” relationship between the father and son, before explaining that they share common interests. “X knows a lot about rockets,” she said. “It’s crazy. He knows more about rockets than me.” She then specified that she and Musk have stopped giving X toys, since he “gets upset” if “they’re not anatomically correct”. However, the singer confessed that she’s been a little worried about her son’s interest in space, as she described his reaction to the Starship rocket exploding earlier this year. “He’s a little engineer, for sure. But his obsession with space is bordering on: ‘Is this healthy?’ When X saw Starship blow up, he had, like, a three-day PTSD meltdown,” Grimes recalled. “Every hour, he was waking up and going: ‘Starship …’ and I had to rub his back.” Grimes - who announced her split from Musk in 2022- shared that her daughter is “a little engineer too,” explaining: “She likes industrial shipping. She’s very strange.” As she continued to open up about co-parenting with her ex, she said that she’s “trying to find a great peer group,” or “other parents who are sort of like us and share similar values”. She went on to speak candidly about the different boundaries she wants to set as a parent. “I really care about having a very good relationship with my kids. I think I understand how to be a good parent to them,” she said. “Both enforcing discipline and being their friend. Who knows, maybe they’ll resent me and reject family culture, but I feel like they will not.” She also confessed that she’s “a little bit” worried about her children’s privilege, as their father holds the title as the richest person in the world. “I think their life is gonna be pretty intense,” she said. “Being Elon’s kid is not the same as being anyone’s kid. In my house, at least, I want it to be more of a crazy warehouse situation and a cool art space.” Grimes and Musk first met in 2018 when he direct messaged her on social media, where they then made the same pun about artificial intelligence. In September 2021, Musk revealed to Page Six that he and Grimes have “semi-separated” due to conflicting schedules and locations. Two months later, the pair welcomed their daughter together via surrogate. After the announcement made headlines, Grimes told Vanity Fair in March 2022 that she and Musk have a fluid, inexplicable partnership. However, she later made a clarification about the comment on Twitter, noting that while she and Musk had broken up since welcoming their daughter, “he’s my best friend and the love of my life”. Elsewhere in her interview with Wired, Grimes acknowledged that she’s learned a lot from her ex, specifically when it comes to leadership skills. “I learned from him, like, the best internship ever. People don’t like talking about Elon, but it was incredible to be right there watching all that SpaceX stuff happen,” she said. “That’s a master class in leadership and engineering and makes you understand how rare it is to have a leader of that quality.” Grimes continued to praise Musk’s management skills, adding: “Elon has an old-world kind of discipline I really respect. And I think it rubs a lot of people the wrong way. They don’t want to be in that hardcore zone. If you’re not consenting to being in that hardcore zone, I get it.” She also specified that Musk has “challenged” her a lot, and taught her about running her own company and team. When asked what her ex learned from her, she said that she’s helped him “have more fun”. “I try to soften him up, to build family culture,” she said. “And he steals a lot of my memes.” Read More Elon Musk gave Grimes a ‘trivia test’ on Lord of the Rings when they first started dating Grimes criticised for remarks about Lizzo accusers Grimes weighs in on alleged cage match between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg Elon Musk gave Grimes a ‘trivia test’ on Lord of the Rings when they started dating Grimes weighs in on alleged cage match between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg Mark Zuckerberg reveals his 4,000 calorie diet and large McDonald’s order

When it comes to our favorite acts of sexual intimacy, receiving oral sex ranks right there at the top. I mean, how could it not? There’s something wildly fantastic about the feel of a tongue that’s in a league of its own. Despite it being a perennial fav, many women need manual stimulation as well as oral sex in order to reach climax, and it can take up to twenty minutes to get there. Then, of course, there’s the whole issue of needing someone else in the bedroom with you to experience the bliss that is oral. There are a number of sex toys that attempt to replicate the sensation, but it’s understandably difficult to mimic the sensations of a truly talented tongue. Fortunately, there’s Lelo’s oral sex toy, Ora 3, which not only promises to get pretty darn close to the real deal, it also offers stamina that would outstrip most of us mere mortals.

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Michael Beale was left frustrated by his “wasteful” Rangers side in their narrow 2-1 win over 10-man Servette in the first leg of their Champions League third qualifying round at Ibrox. Skipper James Tavernier scored a penalty in the sixth minute before striker Cyriel Dessers knocked in a second eight minutes later with his first Gers goal. Sam Lammers missed a great chance to make it 3-0 and, just before the break, Servette attacker Chris Bedia reduced the deficit from the spot after the VAR intervened to flag up a Dessers handball. Servette were reduced to 10 men in the 59th minute after David Douline was sent off for picking up the second of two yellow cards for a foul on Todd Cantwell. But the visitors defended resolutely and will fancy their chances of turning the tie around in Switzerland next Tuesday night. Beale said: “We started really well and I thought the energy from the team was really good in and out of possession. “The desire shown by Nico and Todd before the first goal to go chase a couple of lost causes down was fantastic. “I felt Borna Barisic had a good night and put some great crosses in. “Playing with the two nine’s gives you that opportunity that we got when Danilo went across the first post and Cyriel scores. “At that moment we were in a great place. But after that I thought we were wasteful. “Then comes the VAR decision for the penalty. I thought it was harsh but that’s the ruling. “The second half, their keeper made a fantastic save from Sam and Cyriel and we had other moments again where we were wasteful on a night when we played well in my opinion for a long period of time. “What it does is keep our wits about us. We know it will be difficult going to Geneva. It’s going to be a full house and we’ll see a different game like we always do in Europe. “I’ll never knock a win in European competition because I know they’re so difficult to come by. “But as a team, we do a lot of good things and create enormous opportunities and we have to be more decisive. “I’ll give our forwards [a break] at the moment because they’re new coming into the club and it’s early in the season. “But if we keep creating chances like that then we have to take them if we’re to put teams away.” Beale believes there is still more to come from his revamped squad. He said: “We are not using it as an excuse but 13 players left and nine came in. “Danilo has trained with his team-mates for four days and has had a pre-season which was all over the shop at Feyenoord. “We are not the sum of our parts right now but I thought we had more forward running and more energy. “I thought the front three were exciting and they will get better with each game.” Servette boss Rene Weiler is relishing the return game. He said: “The result leaves the door open for the second leg next week. “It was a tough start for us when we went 2-0 down and they played at a high level but we got a bit of luck with the penalty. “But overall the first half was balanced. We tried to attack but when we got a red card it was tough but it leaves us with the possibility for next week.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live James Trafford tipped to star for Burnley by Joleon Lescott Premier League looking into ‘historic’ financial issues at Chelsea Premier League may have to scrap mid-season break due to demands of calendar