Pep Guardiola might be largely to blame for this, having nurtured players in his old position to become some of the finest in football, but elite defensive midfielders do not come cheap nowadays.
The £100million price tag attached to West Ham and England star Declan Rice is a prime example, while the CIES Football Observatory released it's latest report this week that pegged England and Borussia Dortmund youngster Jude Bellingham's market value at €120m.
Romeo Lavia is tipped to be a future defensive midfielder in the Manchester City first-team squad. He made his senior debut in the Carabao Cup win over Wycombe Wanderers earlier this season and was an unused substitute during Tuesday's Champions League loss at RB Leipzig.
City signed Lavia in 2020 from Anderlecht's youth setup, where he earned a ringing endorsement from the Belgian club's head coach and City great Vincent Kompany.
Guardiola first spotted the 17-year-old at the KDB Cup in 2017, a youth tournament in Belgium for under-15s that is named in honour of Kevin De Bruyne.
The hype around the Belgium youth international is building, with the expected exit of the 36-year-old Fernandinho at the end of this season signposting a potential fast-tracking into Guardiola's plans on a regular basis.
On Facebook Live, City is Ours editor Dom Farrell was accompanied by MEN Manchester City writer Joe Bray to discuss Lavia's exploits for the under-23s and how he likely he is to break into Guardiola's first-team squad?
DF: “Where’s Lavia in terms of his capacity to step up a bit. From what I’ve seen he’s an exciting player and a very good player in that position. Very accomplished for his age.
“But, there's been a few disciplinary issues this year hasn’t there?”
JB: “I was just looking at that and he’s got one red card this season in 18 appearances and a couple of bookings. It’s not ideal but I think that’s maybe crept into his game this season.
“I don’t know why. Last season I thought he was well ahead of the other under-23s. That was pretty remarkable because he came in through the under-18s at the beginning of the season.
“He quickly got promoted to the under-23s. Then was earmarked to be one of those [taking part in] first-team training - all within a year. I’m really excited to see where he can go. This season he’s had a lot to deal with, b ecoming one of those players who's been named by Guardiola as a first-team player.
"Yes, he’s got a tackle in him. Like any other youngster, he’s got a mistake in him. Largely he’s one of the more consistent players.
“He's one of those where you think he’s far too good for this [youth] team. He’s the sort of first-team player in waiting.”
