Roméo Lavia

Roméo Lavia[1] (born 6 January 2004) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Premier League club Southampton and the Belgium national team.

Roméo Lavia
Personal information
Date of birth (2004-01-06) 6 January 2004
Place of birth Brussels, Belgium
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Southampton
Number 45
Youth career
0000–2012 S.C. Woluwe
2012–2020 Anderlecht
2020–2021 Manchester City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2021–2022 Manchester City 0 (0)
2022– Southampton 27 (1)
International career‡
2019 Belgium U15 1 (0)
2019 Belgium U16 1 (1)
2021– Belgium U19 10 (0)
2022– Belgium U21 1 (0)
2023– Belgium 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:57, 13 May 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 March 2023

Club career

Anderlecht

Lavia is a youth product of the Belgian club Anderlecht. He arrived at eight years old at their training centre in Neerpede nearby Brussels.

At a local international youth tournament for players under the age of 15 he got noticed for the first time by Pep Guardiola. The Spanish trainer was there on invitation of his Manchester City player Kevin De Bruyne who is co-organiser of this tournament that also bears his name, the KDB Cup.[2]

Manchester City

At the age of sixteen Lavia left Anderlecht in the summer of 2020 for Manchester City where he signed his first professional contract. He joined the U18 where he quickly stood out. In November that year after only eleven appearances he was already promoted to the U23. Together with the EDS team the Belgian youngster won the Premier League 2 championship in April 2021 and was voted player of the season.

Starting from the summer of 2021, Lavia started training with the first-team. He earned a selection into squad of the Citizens that played the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League. Roméo made his official first-team debut at 17 years old on 21 September 2021, at the third round of the 2021–22 EFL Cup against Wycombe Wanderers.[3] He got a yellow card.

Southampton

On 6 July 2022, Lavia joined Southampton and signed a five-year contract.[4] On 6 August 2022, Lavia made his debut in a 4–1 loss away to Tottenham Hotspur.[5] He scored his first goal on 30 August 2022 in the Saints' 2–1 win over Chelsea, becoming the first player born in 2004 to score in the Premier League.[6]

International career

Born in Belgium, Lavia is of Ghanaian descent.[7] In 2019, he played one official game for the Belgium U15 youth team and also one for the Belgium U16 in which he scored once.[8] He has since played a lot of friendlies in which he is often team captain.

On 17 March 2023, he received his first call-up to the Belgian senior national team by manager Domenico Tedesco, for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying match against Sweden and the friendly against Germany.[9][10]

Style of play

Lavia is a defensive midfielder. He stated that his inspirations are Barcelona player Sergio Busquets and his former Man City teammate Fernandinho. He visibly expressed himself to be comfortable when recovering the ball, making use of the intense pressing using intelligence, tenacity, along with pace, and when he makes line-breaking deep passes.[11]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 13 May 2023
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup EFL Cup Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Manchester City 2021–22[12] Premier League 0010100020
Southampton 2022–23[13] Premier League 2712030—321
Career total 271304000331

    Honours

    Manchester City U23

    References
    1. "Romeo Lavia Profile, News & Stats". Premier League. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
    2. "Romeo Lavia: Man City wonderkid aiming to follow in Fernandinho's footsteps | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
    3. "Manchester City v Wycombe Wanderers". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
    4. "Saints swoop for Lavia". Southampton FC. 6 July 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
    5. "Confident Tottenham recover to thrash Southampton". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
    6. Bysouth, Alex (30 August 2022). "Southampton 2–1 Chelsea". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
    7. "Ghana's Romeo Lavia opens up on Manchester City move - Kickgh.com". www.kickgh.com.
    8. "Royal Belgian FA". www.rbfa.be. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
    9. "Belgium coach Tedesco wields the axe for Euro qualifiers". Reuters. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
    10. "DOMENICO TEDESCO ANNOUNCES HIS FIRST SELECTION". Royal Belgian Football Association. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
    11. Kulig, Jacek (4 July 2021). "Analysis: Why Romeo Lavia is turning heads at Manchester City by The American Cityzen". Football Talent Scout. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
    12. "Games played by Roméo Lavia in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
    13. "Games played by Roméo Lavia in 2022/2023". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
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