On Wednesday morning, a report from Dan Sheldon and Sam Lee in The Athletic revealed that Southampton are close to completing a permanent deal for Manchester City's 18-year-old midfielder Romeo Lavia, with the Blues maintaining a buyback clause.
Joining City from Anderlecht at 16 as part of the Under 18s and Elite Development set-up, he made his debut for the senior team in last season's League Cup third-round clash against Wycombe Wanderers and also featured in the FA Cup.
With mounting interest from several Premier League clubs, including Leeds and Southampton, it is Ralph Hasenhuttl's side who have won the race for the Belgian holding midfielder – and although the Premier League champions were reluctant to let him leave, they reportedly view the transfer as a way to offset the cost of Kalvin Phillips, who is set to join City in a £45 million deal.
TalkSPORT revealed that the clubs had agreed on a package worth £10 million for Lavia, and it later emerged via the Daily Mail that the Blues will also insert a sell-on clause alongside the buyback option.
Earlier in the window, the Saints secured the signature of Gavin Bazunu from City in a £15 million deal after the Irish international had a stellar campaign last term for Portsmouth and Ireland.
The moves are set against the backdrop of Southampton's impending acquisition of Joe Shields, City's Head of Academy Recruitment and Talent Management, who is in negotiations with the south coast side to take over from outgoing Martyn Glover.
It was recently reported by Sami Mokbel in the Daily Mail that Sam Fagbemi is an internal candidate under consideration to replace Shields as the Head of Academy Recruitment and Talent Management at the City Football Academy.
Lavia will join Samuel Edozie in leaving Manchester for reported fees of around £10 million – with the latter set to join Bayer Leverkusen on a two-year deal – while CJ Egan-Riley is set to complete a permanent move to Burnley for a compensation fee that could total £750,000.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis is expected to join Egan-Riley at Vincent Kompany's Burnley on a season-long loan.
Written by: @P4trick_Jr
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