Scouting Report: What makes Roméo Lavia an attractive proposition for Liverpool?

Liverpool’s aim to strengthen the defensive midfield has brought them back to attempting to sign a Southampton player, just like the good ‘ol days. This time, young Belgian midfielder Roméo Lavia is on their radar.

Lavia is a former Manchester City player who made only two appearances for their senior team before moving to the south coast last summer. He played an exceptional season for Southampton but could not help them survive the relegation.

Whoever managed the Saints last season, they played him either in a double-pivot alongside James Ward-Prowse or as a lone number six in a 4-1-4-1 or a 3-5-1-1 system with two attacking number eights.

The 19-year-old began his career at Anderlecht four years ago (played only youth games there). He joined the Manchester City U18s a year later before rising up the ranks.

With introduction out of the way, let’s focus on the player’s attributes, his numbers, playing style and what he can potentially bring to Liverpool.

Player Profile - Roméo Lavia

So far in his career, Lavia has either played as a lone defensive midfielder or in a defensive midfield-pivot alongside a box-to-box midfielder. He has taken up the destruction of opposition attacks as his primary role in a football team.

The 19-year-old, who has made one senior appearance for Belgium, is a tidy passer of the ball who won’t try anything extravagant. He does like to dribble past people to get out of tight situations in his own third at times. Off the ball, there aren’t many better than him in the Premier League.

As per Opta Analyst Comparison Tool, Lavia is on 88 percentile in possession won and 54 in defensive actions (compared against midfielders of top-5 EU leagues who have played a minimum of 1350 minutes last season). Impressive that!