Arsenal could be set to mimic the success of a rival that led to their Premier League title success…
What's the latest on Romeo Lavia to Arsenal?
Back in 2017, as Jurgen Klopp sought to truly transform his team into challengers, he unloaded £75m to tempt Virgil van Dijk to join him from Southampton.
Many scoffed at that fee, as they likely will do at the £50m the Saints are now demanding for their young midfielder Romeo Lavia. It seems they will never learn.
Should the 19-year-old have a similarly transformative effect on Mikel Arteta's team that the Dutchman did at Anfield, it would certainly be a deal worth making.
After all, it has been reported by Football Transfers that, due to Thomas Partey's eagerness to exit the Emirates, Edu has now sped up his move to sign the teenage general who could replace the Ghanaian and potentially be the catalyst that earns them untold silverware.
Could Romeo Lavia mimic Virgil van Dijk's career path?
Having just enjoyed his first year in senior football, Lavia is far from the proven stalwart that Van Dijk was when he moved to Merseyside. However, age is no barrier when a player boasts this much quality.
In a Saints side that struggled all campaign, he stood out as one of few shining lights coming out of St Mary's Stadium. His 6.80 average rating made him the club's second-best performing midfielder behind only captain James Ward-Prowse, and this was a figure underpinned by his 86% pass accuracy, 68% dribble success rate, 2.1 tackles and 1.1 interceptions per game, via Sofascore.
His tackling numbers were only matched by the man he could be set to replace within Arteta's squad, to emphasise his defensive prowess. Journalist Ed Aarons clearly noticed this, branding the star "outstanding" back in January.
Should he be brought under the tutelage of this Spanish tactician, who has made steady progress with each passing year, then it would likely not take long until he can have the same effect that Van Dijk had after he too moved from Southampton to one of the big fish in the Premier League.
The Dutchman has played 222 times since joining the Reds, winning a Premier League, Champions League, FA and EFL Cup amongst other honours. This even merited a double swoop of the PFA Players' Player of the Year and UEFA's Best Player awards too in 2019.
Such prestigious recognition led Michael Owen to brand him "the best centre-half of all time" just last year.
Lavia will be keen to follow in these footsteps should he move to the Emirates, who are in a similar position to Liverpool when they made their big acquisition; if anything they are even more advanced. This pushed them over the edge to make them true challengers to Manchester City, which is exactly what Arteta is striving for now.
Although he would go under the radar amidst more lucrative deals for Declan Rice and Kai Havertz, he could still prove as important as a supplementary defensive midfielder that has once again been given a platform to shine in Southampton.
