Southampton midfielder Roméo Lavia has been a “top signing” for the south coast side this summer.
That is the view of journalist Pete O’Rourke, who was speaking to This is Futbol about the latest goings-on at St Mary’s.
Midfielder Lavia, who has been described as “outstanding” by Jonathan Smith, joined the Saints from Manchester City in a £10.5m deal this summer and has impressed since he signed for Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side.
The midfielder scored his first Premier League goal in the club’s 2-1 victory over Chelsea in August – a performance which encouraged the west London side to reportedly explore the possibility of signing the 18-year-old for £50m before the transfer deadline this summer.
And O’Rourke believes that Lavia has proven himself to be a top-quality addition to Hasenhüttl’s side this summer, saying:
“He’s been a top signing by Southampton.
“Obviously, he was in the Manchester City team but just couldn’t break into their star-studded first XI.
“But he’s gone to Southampton, really hit the ground running, had a great performance against Chelsea, which even attracted the interest of Chelsea before the end of the deadline.”
TIF Thoughts on O’Rourke’s comments…
We believe that Southampton have pulled off a fantastic bit of business by securing the signature of Lavia, despite the Belgium U21 international picking up a hamstring injury in the aforementioned victory over Chelsea which will rule him out for at least six weeks.
An average SofaScore rating of 7.02 for his performances in the Premier League this season would suggest that the former Manchester City midfielder has made an excellent start to life in the top flight – ranking as the fifth highest-performing player in the Saints squad.
Therefore, we agree with O’Rourke and think that the signing of Lavia has been a wonderful piece of business by the south coast club, though we also believe the Southampton faithful will be wary of Manchester City’s £40m buy-back option if the midfielder keeps performing to a top-class standard.