Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola has, on Friday, moved to lavish praise on former Citizens talent Romeo Lavia.
Midfielder Lavia, of course, has seen his name take its place centre stage in the English headlines across the season to date.
This comes as the 19-year-old, despite his tender years, piques the attentions of the heavyweights of the Premier League, courtesy of a string of starring displays at the heart of Southampton’s midfield.
To this point, both Chelsea and Arsenal have been credited with an interest in Lavia, with the former understood to have gone as far as to table a £50 million offer for the Belgian on transfer deadline day this past January.
All of this comes, though, with Lavia having already been on the books of one of English football’s finest earlier in his fledgling career.
The teenage talent is a product of the academy setup at Belgian outfit Anderlecht, but opted to put pen to paper on terms with reigning Premier League champions Manchester City back in 2020.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Man City boss Pep Guardiola, as alluded to above, was therefore drawn on the decision of the powers that be at The Etihad to allow such a gifted young talent to move on.
And the Spaniard, evidently a huge fan of Lavia’s talents, went on to cite the midfielder’s need for regular first-team minutes as the decisive factor in as much:
Pep Guardiola: “I’m impressed with what Romeo Lavia is doing at Southampton. We’ve an incredible opinion of him. We thought to keep him — but we couldn’t give him enough minutes like he has at Southampton”. 🚨🔵👀 #MCFC
Man City have £40m buy back clause for Lavia [from 2024]. pic.twitter.com/JMEg0rj2rL
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 7, 2023
