Declan Rice's transfer to Arsenal has the potential to be one of the biggest deals of the summer in the Premier League. The West Ham United captain arrives in North London with a lot of pedigree, and on the back of a stellar few years at both club and international levels. But while Rice will get the headlines, Liverpool could be about to make a similar transfer.
Rice cost Arsenal a whopping $131m (£100m/€117m). That's a huge price to pay but given his experience at West Ham and for the England national team, it's obviously a price worth paying for a player who could have a transformative impact on the team.
Players like Rice, who are so proven and command such a high transfer fee, are simply out of Liverpool's price range. However, the club has been investing smartly this summer, and while the Reds aren't able to sign the likes of Rice, Liverpool could be about to sign an equally talented gem, who in the coming years could prove to be just as good as Arsenal's new signing.
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The Athletic has reported that Liverpool is about to make a second offer for Roméo Lavia, and that the deal looks increasingly likely with the Reds and Southampton both open to coming to a compromise over the Belgian teenager's purported $64m (£50m/€58m) valuation. Furthermore, Fabrizio Romano has now claimed an offer worth a total of $58m (£45m/€53m) is 'almost ready'.
Lavia is nowhere near as well renowned as Rice in world football, but he is regarded as an elite prospect who has enjoyed a solid breakthrough season in the Premier League.
Developed at Manchester City where he was given a senior debut by Pep Guardiola, Lavia excelled in the Premier League for Southampton last season.
The youngster, who only turned 19 in January, was voted the club's Player of the Season, and became a key pillar, albeit unable to thwart Southampton's descent into the Championship.
Even based on his numbers now, Lavia ranks among not just his age peers but the best defensive midfielders in the league. However, to get a more accurate gauge of his talent, it may be apt to compare him with Rice's debut season in the league which happened at the same age.
With both players born in January, Rice, just like Lavia, started his first full campaign in the league as an 18-year-old during the 2017/18 season and immediately caught the eye for West Ham.
In terms of numbers, Lavia actually racked up more minutes in his first league campaign, amassing a total of 2,221 minutes in comparison to Rice's 1,430, as per FBref. On the ball, despite being part of a relegated side, Lavia produced better and more productive numbers than Rice.
He completed 34.8 passes per 90 minutes, in contrast to Rice's 28.7, averaging more key passes (0.65 compared to 0.13 per 90) and more shot-creating actions (1.66 compared to 0.63 per 90).
On the ball, Lavia clearly exhibited more productivity in comparison to Rice during his debut campaign, but the numbers defensively also don't differ too much.
Rice averaged 3.96 tackles per 90 minutes, while Lavia averaged 3.77. Both of them won a similar percentage of their aerial duels, with Rice averaging 47.1 per cent and Lavia averaging 41.2 per cent.
In terms of defensive duels won, as per Wyscout, Lavia averaged more duels (6.47 per 90) than Rice (5.72 per 90) which could explain why the former had a slightly better success rate at 73 per cent compared to Lavia's 65.5 per cent. They also both covered a lot of ground and were really involved in their team's defensive output, with Lavia averaging 9.59 recoveries per 90 minutes compared to Rice's 9.66.
Based on their debut campaigns, very little separates the two of them. Lavia at the moment is five years behind Rice in terms of his development, and given how similarly he has performed in his first campaign in the league, it is entirely possible he can reach the levels Arsenal's new signing has reached in the coming years ahead.
This would mean Liverpool could be about to sign a player who might be worth as much as Rice in the future for just half the price this summer, and that is some smart investment by the club.
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