Roméo Lavia left Manchester City and made a switch to Southampton in the last window.
Operating mainly as a defensive midfielder, he started the first five league games for the Saints this season, before a hamstring injury forced him to miss the last three matches.
The 18-year-old’s displays for Southampton had led to suggestion that he could be part of the Belgium squad for the 2022 World Cup, even though he has not represented De Rode Duivels so far.
Sport/Voetbalmagazine have a piece on young Belgian players, who are impressing in the Jupiler Pro League or in other foreign leagues. They give a few examples of those players who struggled since leaving their country.
The teenager ‘has become one of the revelations’ of this season at Southampton, and should he continue to shine for Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side after he regains full fitness, then Lavia could have an outside chance of making it to Qatar with Belgium.
To further back this, Roberto Martínez has already confirmed he is keeping tabs on Lavia’s development at St Mary’s.
“The idea is to have six midfielders who can fit together in the group. We also really appreciate Vanaken’s profile, we also follow Lavia. He was very unlucky because with the start of the season he was making, he was part of this whole new generation that was coming,” he told RTBF.
