Southampton struck gold with 5 ft 11 ace – opinion

Southampton took advantage of this former player at the ideal moment.

It’s reasonable to argue that several of Southampton’s more costly players left the club before to starting a new season in the Championship following a devastating relegation.

The Saints lost players like Tino Livramento, James Ward-Prowse, and Nathan Tella to better opportunities, yet Southampton made a tidy profit from each of these sales.

While those three have gone on to achieve success and justify their high asking prices—Ward-Prowse, who left Saints for West Ham United at a fee of £30 million, is now perhaps looking like a steal at that price given that he has 12 assists in all competitions—this other significant sale has not impressed since departing St Mary’s.
The figures from Romeo Lavia’s time at Southampton
Romeo Lavia’s tenure on the South Coast would pass quickly; prior to Chelsea’s megabucks acquisition, the former Manchester City youth product made just 34 appearances in the previous campaign.

Considering their dire circumstances for the most of the season, the 20-year-old did show promise for the relegation hopefuls, scoring one goal for the Saints out of 29 Premier League outings.

Even so, considering how little the Belgian defensive midfielder has played at Stamford Bridge thus far, Chelsea’s £58 million bid—£28 million more than West Ham’s fee—to acquire the talented young player seemed outrageous at the time.

Lavia joined Chelsea in the summer of last year, but she hasn’t played the entire ninety minutes. She has only played 32 minutes for the Blues so far, against Crystal Palace in late December. That’s mostly due to an awful campaign from injuries.

However, taking into account that Southampton was able to acquire Lavia’s services for a considerably lower fee of £10.5 million before turning a healthy profit on him in just one season, the Saints clearly struck gold when they decided to let go of their former star player.

Romeo Lavia’s Chelsea transfer value at this time
Due to this reckless signing to Mauricio Pochettino’s team, the 5 foot 11 Belgian’s transfer value has now dropped to €41.3m (£35m), according to Football Transfers, suggesting that he has already lost more than £20 million in value.

As a result, commentators like Gary Neville have criticised Chelsea for overspending and called the recent acquisition of Lavia by Todd Boehly and company a “ego” signing rather than a wise long-term investment.

The Sky Sports analyst said: “They [Chelsea] went and acquired Enzo, they went and bought Caicedo, and then on the last day of the transfer window, out of their ego, they went and bought Lavia, and now they have to trade Conor Gallagher? Lavia wasn’t even a player for them, therefore they didn’t need him.

Southampton, who thrived in the second tier with players like Stuart Armstrong, Will Smallbone, and Flynn Downes creating a close-knit synergy for Martin’s men in the middle of the park over Lavia’s flashiness, has never looked back and wondered if they should have kept their former star around for longer either.

Pochettino will be crossing his fingers that Lavia, whose first season at Stamford Bridge was marred by constant injury problems, can finally turn things around for the struggling Blues.

However, given how quickly the 20-year-old’s transfer worth has dropped off a cliff since joining Chelsea, it is currently undeniable that Lavia represents a major mistake on Chelsea’s part.

Southampton, on the other hand, needs to see the company as playing a masterful game at the ideal moment.

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