Pep Guardiola admitted that he's been 'really impressed' by Romeo Lavia this season. The 19-year-old was heavily linked with a move to Chelsea late into the summer transfer window despite having only joined the Saints a few weeks prior.
Lavia swapped the Etihad Stadium for St Mary's in July for around £14million. Then, in August, just days before deadline day, the west London outfit launched an attempt to sign the the Belgium international, with former boss Thomas Tuchel eager to further bolster his midfield options.
Chelsea were unsuccessful in their mission to lure Lavia to Stamford Bridge and went on to sign Denis Zakaria on loan instead. The Southampton star has continued to attract interest from the Blues, as well as numerous other top European clubs, having enjoyed an incredible start to his senior career.
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Lavia has featured 20 times for the Saints in the Premier League this season, directly contributing towards one goal. With City aware of the Belgian's talents, the Daily Mail have reported that they inserted three clauses into his contract on the south coast; a 20% sell-on clause, a £40 million buy-back clause and the ability to match any future bids.
The Premier League champions' clauses hand Chelsea a significant blow to any hopes they had of signing the teenage sensation – especially considering Guardiola's latest glowing review. Ahead of City's clash with Southampton on Saturday afternoon, the Spaniard said: "[We’re] really impressed with what Romeo [Lavia] is doing, we have an incredible opinion about him. We thought to keep him but we thought maybe he doesn’t get enough minutes like he’ll get in Southampton."
In March, Lavia responded to speculation over his future at Southampton. He was quizzed on the possibility of rejoining City, but he quickly shut down said claims and insisted that it's 'too early to consider'.
"I didn't want to prove anything, I was concentrating on my path," he said, as reported by Belgian publication DH. "I'm proud to be here, I now want to try to scratch the minutes. Not being called up for the World Cup? I took it calmly, I waited for my moment and today I'm here."
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