Roméo Lavia[1] (born 6 January 2004) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Southampton.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (2004-01-06) 6 January 2004 (age 18) | ||
| Place of birth | Brussels, Belgium | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Defensive midfielder | ||
| Club 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 | 7 | (1) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2019 | Belgium U15 | 1 | (0) |
| 2019 | Belgium U16 | 1 | (1) |
| 2021– | Belgium U19 | 10 | (0) |
| 2022– | Belgium U21 | 1 | (0) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18:04, 12 November 2022 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 9 October 2021 | |||
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]
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.
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]
Born in Belgium, Lavia is of Congolese 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's often team captain.
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.[9]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | EFL Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Manchester City | 2021–22[10] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Southampton | 2022–23[11] | Premier League | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 7 | 1 | |
| Career total | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | ||
Manchester City U23
Southampton F.C. – current squad | |
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