Romeo loving Saints life
CITY players, including Kevin de Bruyne, are keeping in contact with former academy youngster Romeo Lavia.
The 18-year-old left the Etihad this summer after being impressed with Southampton when they visited the Etihad last season.
Lavia has been a regular fixture in City first-team training over the last 12 months, as well as playing a pivotal role in the under-23s’ title win.
He could have continued to push for senior minutes this year to build on his two first-team outings last season, but instead secured a permanent move to Southampton for a fee of around £12m. The Belgian started Southampton’s defeat to Tottenham last weekend.
His relationship with the senior City players was so good, he says, that he can still text them.
“It was an amazing, amazing experience,” Lavia said, referring to his City debut in the Carabao Cup alongside De Bruyne last season. “Now he is more than a team-mate to me and, when I can, I can go to him to ask for advice and just speak about anything.
“It’s crazy to think that I was playing in that tournament, and now I’m someone that is actually close to him. We keep in touch. He’s happy for me, and he’s told me that now I need to ‘show them what I showed him’ in training with the Manchester City first team.”
Lavia also revealed he was sitting his exams in the summer when he found out about Southampton’s interest in him.
“I’ll be honest with you, in the middle of June I’m doing my school exams - I hear interest from Southampton, and when I hear it I’m just like ‘let’s go’,” he said.
“I looked at the culture of the club, the style of play with which I was really impressed by when I was on the bench for City playing against Southampton.
“It was really exciting and that’s how it went.”