Wesley Sonck: “Knew he was good, but not that Romeo Lavia could do this in the Premier League” | The stand

Usually Wesley Sonck does not like to speak publicly about young Belgian talents. As national team coach of the U19, he does not want to single out individuals, but after the performance of Romeo Lavia on the Tottenham field, Sonck cannot ignore it either.

“I already knew that Romeo had enormous football qualities. I didn’t know that he could also do that at Premier League level. What he showed against Tottenham was really wow.”

“Players like Maarten Vandevoordt, Luca Oyen, Zeno Debast, Romeo Lavia, those are guys who stand out internationally in their age category.”

Of all the players Sonck mentions, Lavia is the youngest.

Romeo Lavia played as six in Southampton’s midfield last weekend. There he recovered a lot of balls with his speed and by standing firmly on his feet, but there was more. Lavia always acted quickly, sought vertical solutions and showed his technically savvy feet.

“He has a very interesting profile for the position as a defensive midfielder,” confirms Wesley Sonck. Lavia is not the tallest (1.80m), but neither was Claude Makélélé, for example, a footballer that Lavia sometimes reminds of.

The path to a great career in international football is not only walked with good feet. The head must also be included. Lavia already seems to know what he wants.

When he was 16 he applied for a professional contract with Anderlecht and opted for an English adventure with Manchester City. Two years later, he was confident enough to go for more minutes of play in the Premier League at a less highly regarded club.

“Romeo is a very calm boy,” says Wesley Sonck. “Apparently he decided for himself – and probably together with his entourage – that it would be better for him to leave City to play elsewhere. That will have been discussed with City. There is a buy-back clause I have read.”

Romeo Lavia was born on January 6, 2004. For comparison: he is thus younger than, for example, Marco Kana or Aster Vranckx (both born in 2002), players who have approximately the same profile.

While Kana is fighting for a base place at Anderlecht and Vranckx spent the entire match against Werder Bremen on the bench at Wolfsburg last weekend, Lavia seems launched in the Premier League.

Is Lavia the future of the Red Devils? “That is of course the intention of me and my staff”, laughs Sonck. “These are actually questions for my boss, Roberto Martinez.”

“But let’s say that boys like Lavia are probably already being scouted. And if the national coach needs to know something, he sometimes calls us.”