Roméo Lavia

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

Roméo Lavia
Personal information
Date of birth (2004-01-06) 6 January 2004[1]
Place of birth Brussels, Belgium
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Chelsea
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)
2022–2023 Southampton 29 (1)
2023– Chelsea 0 (0)
International career‡
2019 Belgium U15 1 (0)
2019 Belgium U16 1 (1)
2021–2022 Belgium U19 10 (0)
2022– Belgium U21 1 (0)
2023– Belgium 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19:54, 28 May 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 March 2023

A product of Anderlecht's academy, he made his professional debut for Premier League side Manchester City in 2021, before being signed by Southampton in 2022. After Southampton's relegation in 2023, he was signed by Chelsea for £53 million.

A Belgium youth international, he made his debut for the senior team in 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 for Manchester City in the summer of 2020, and signed his first professional contract. He joined the U18 where he quickly stood out. In November that year, after only eleven appearances, Lavia 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 to play the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League. Lavia made his professional debut at the age of seventeen on 21 September 2021, at the third round of the 2021–22 EFL Cup against Wycombe Wanderers, and he got a yellow card.[3]

Southampton

On 6 July 2022, Lavia joined Southampton and signed a five-year contract.[4] Although the fee was officially undisclosed, it was reported by BBC Sport to be worth an initial £10.5 million, plus £3.5 million in add-ons.[5] It was also reported that the terms of the deal included a £40 million buy-back clause and a 20% sell-on clause for Manchester City.[6]

On 6 August 2022, Lavia made his debut in a 4–1 loss away to Tottenham Hotspur.[7] 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.[8] Southampton finished the season at the bottom of the Premier League table, resulting in relegation to the EFL Championship for the 2023–24 season.[9]

Chelsea

On 18 August 2023, Lavia joined Chelsea,[10] signing a seven-year contract, for a reported initial fee of £53 million plus add-ons.[11]

International career

Born in Belgium, Lavia is of Ghanaian descent.[12] 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.[13] 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.[14][15]

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.[16]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 28 May 2023
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup EFL Cup Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Manchester City 2021–22[17] Premier League 0010100020
Southampton 2022–23[18] Premier League 2912030—341
2023–24[19] Championship 000000—00
Total 2912030—341
Chelsea 2023–24[19] Premier League 000000—00
Career total 291304000361

    International
    As of match played 28 March 2023[20]
    Appearances and goals by national team and year
    National teamYearAppsGoals
    Belgium 202310
    Total10

    Honours

    Manchester City U23

    References
    1. "Roméo Lavia". 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. Minay, Mike (6 July 2022). "Romeo Lavia: Southampton sign 18-year-old from Manchester City for £10.5m". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
    6. Romano, Fabrizio (6 July 2022). "Southampton close to buying Rangers' Joe Aribo after Roméo Lavia signs". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
    7. "Confident Tottenham recover to thrash Southampton". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
    8. Bysouth, Alex (30 August 2022). "Southampton 2–1 Chelsea". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
    9. "Southampton relegated after defeat to Fulham". www.premierleague.com. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
    10. "Lavia joins Chelsea". Chelsea FC. 18 August 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
    11. "Romeo Lavia: Chelsea sign Belgium midfielder from Southampton in £58m deal". BBC Sport. 18 August 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
    12. "Ghana's Romeo Lavia opens up on Manchester City move". www.kickgh.com.
    13. "Royal Belgian FA". www.rbfa.be. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
    14. "Belgium coach Tedesco wields the axe for Euro qualifiers". Reuters. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
    15. "Domenico Tedesco announces his first selection". Royal Belgian Football Association. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
    16. 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.
    17. "Games played by Roméo Lavia in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
    18. "Games played by Roméo Lavia in 2022/2023". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
    19. "Games played by Roméo Lavia in 2023/2024". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
    20. "Lavia, Roméo". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
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