Southampton continues to upgrade the spine of the first-team under popular manager Ralph Hasenhüttl this summer as Saints have sealed a deal for talented Belgian youngster Roméo Lavia.
Lavia, 18, arrived at Manchester City in 2020 after spending eight years in the academy set up at Belgian giants RSC Anderlecht and has been capped at U15, U16, U19, and U21 levels for his country, but will now look to push for serious first-team minutes after officially becoming the fourth summer signing at Southampton this window.
Southampton complete signing of Romeo Lavia, 18, from Manchester City with a buyback clause in the region of £40m | @AdrianJKajumba https://t.co/MDNYOwdTKd
— MailOnline Sport (@MailSport) July 6, 2022
The deal for the highly-touted Belgian youngster is set to cost Saints £14million per the report in The Mirror, while City will have a £40millin buy-back option on the player, gifting the Premier League champions a potential long-term option by proxy moving forward.
But Southampton will surely benefit for the time being as the club has embarked on targeting youth once more, after deals for VfL Bochum’s German U21 international Armel Bella-Kotchap and Ireland international Gavin Bazunu – also secured from City – have already been completed.
2J76RJA Joe Aribo, Rangers player and Willi Orban, RB Leipzig, playing for the ball in the UEFA semi-final match at Ibrox stadium, Glasgow,
And Saints are not finished this week either, with The Athletic’s David Ornstein reporting earlier this evening that Southampton is also closing in on a deal for Glasgow Rangers’ Nigerian international midfielder Joe Aribo.
The 25-year-old former Charlton Athletic player rose to influential status at Rangers under both Steven Gerrard and Giovanni van Bronckhorst across three seasons, helping the Scottish giants to a league and cup double in 2020-21 as well as an appearance in the Europa League finals in 2021-22.
Aribo will set Southampton back just £6million, with add-ons potentially taking the price up to around the £10million mark.
After last season where the club secured moves for Tino Livramento and Armando Broja (loan), it is clear that the remit on the south coast remains to eye for long-term stability and development.
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