SAINTS have completed the signing of Manchester City midfielder Romeo Lavia on a five-year-deal, becoming the fourth arrival of the summer for a reported inital fee of £10.5 million. The 18-year-old Belgium youth international is a natural ball-winner and will provide manager Ralph Hasenhuttl further competition and rotation for James Ward-Prowse and Oriol Romeu.
Romeo Lavia said: “I’m really delighted to join this club. I think this club has a really good culture with young players, so I’m really happy to be here. When I heard of the interest of Southampton I was buzzing because there’s an opportunity for young players to develop as much as possible and I’m very excited.”
On his new addition,
Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “Roméo is an extremely talented young player at the start of his career who is open-minded and wants to learn and develop his game with us. We are very excited to sign him ahead of many other interested clubs. It proves that we have a positive reputation for improving young players, which we have worked hard to build up over the years. Roméo is coming from one of the best teams in the world, learning from the best manager and the best players. Now it is up to him to show us why he deserves to play in the Premier League, as we hope to help take his game to the next level.”
