In light of fresh transfer “talks,” Liverpool is enhancing Man City’s $52 million plan to acquire its own Roméo Lavia.

Roméo Lavia would become Fabinho’s successor if Liverpool and Man City could quickly reach an agreement on a transfer.

If Liverpool and Man City could quickly agree on a transfer, Roméo Lavia would replace Fabinho.
If Liverpool and Manchester City can quickly come to a transfer agreement, Roméo Lavia will replace Fabinho.

If Liverpool and Man City could quickly come to terms on a transfer, Roméo Lavia would take Fabinho’s place.

If Liverpool and Man City could quickly come to a transfer agreement, Roméo Lavia would replace Fabinho.
This kind of deal might become rarer in the long run.

Creating the next great Liverpool team with Roméo Lavia at its center would be satisfying in some way. The Reds, who were a part of Manchester City’s youth program, appear set to sign on a year before their great rival’s buy-back clause goes into effect. This could leave the Etihad Stadium with long-lasting remorse.

Kevin De Bruyne, who was later deemed surplus to requirements at Chelsea, has played a significant role in Manchester City’s success over the past eight years. Lavia’s development into one of the best in the world at his position if Liverpool were to flip the script would undoubtedly hurt.

However, if Manchester City had any hesitations about selling Lavia last summer, those were easily outweighed by the amount of cash being spent. Pep Guardiola oversaw a summer of major sales for players who were far from his first team plans, which was the biggest validation yet of the club’s youth recruitment strategy.

Unexpectedly, Southampton alone signed four of Manchester City’s promising young players. Clearly, the overall strategy did not work out well, as evidenced by the Saints’ relegation to the Championship and subsequent loss of the top pick. Gavin Bazunu in particular proved to be a poor acquisition because the starting position between the sticks proved to be too much for him at this point in his career.

It won’t, however, stop teams from trying to acquire Guardiola’s young stars. Since the takeover, Manchester City has built cutting-edge facilities and hired top coaches, and the long-term plan is beginning to pay off. Meanwhile, simply being present at the club results in a reputation that drives up prices.

Sure enough, Southampton paid $52 million (£41 million/€47 million) to Manchester City last summer to acquire Juan Larios, Lavia, Bazunu, and Samuel Edozie. These are sizeable sums that give Guardiola real Financial Fair Play latitude when it comes to bolstering the first team.

However, there is an intriguing aspect to all four of these players. They were all recruited into the youth system from the academies of other clubs, so none of them are “true” Manchester City academy graduates. Larios was a product of Tomares, Sevilla, and Barcelona before joining; Edozie is a Millwall product; Lavia was developed at Andelecht; and Bazunu came from Shamrock Rovers.

Manchester City has significantly profited from these shrewd investments made early in players’ careers. There are obvious indications that Liverpool is pursuing the same strategy. Hopefully, they will improve it so that real first-team options like Lavia do not elude them.

Amara Nallo, a defender who was born in 2006 and came from the West Ham academy system, is reportedly being courted by Liverpool, according to a recent report by Fabrizio Romano. And that’s just the most recent step in an organized process.

Stefan Bajeti, who was signed before the end of the EU regulations allowing under-18s from Europe to be signed, has demonstrated how young players can be developed into first-team options rather than just moneymakers. Since then, the hugely exciting Ben Doak and Kaide Gordon have both already made a senior bow. This is thanks to a focus on the British and Irish market.

Then there are others like Trent Kone-Doherty and Bobby Clark, and further back, Harvey Elliott and Caoimhn Kelleher. The nature of this transfer policy is that it takes time to pay off, but Liverpool is on track to benefit from it.

It can later develop its own Lavia in this way. Even better, since they trained in England for three or more years before turning 21, any players who are brought through in this way will be considered homegrown. Many of Jürgen Klopp’s top players appear to have clear paths forward, even though Liverpool will inevitably follow Manchester City’s lead occasionally by cashing in and funding more first-team investment.