I fear Lavia will be the last of the midfield additions unless we make some late move for Gravenberch/Kimmich. The market for DM's or holding players doesn't appear in the best of shape and history tells us we would rather go into the season light than sign a player we're not super keen on. The majority of links have completely died a death.
Can't say I've seen much of Lavia. He's going to need as much patience as Bajectic - it's going to be pretty evident we'll be paying a chunk for his potential rather than his current ability. Hopefully, he will be more effective in shutting down counterattacks with his pace, tenacity and youth, and being a city graduate, I would expect him to be technically able. The main challenge is likely going to be adapting his positional play, knowing when the press is, adjusting to covering for an inverted fullback, etc. The fact Trent will likely be sat alongside him shifts much of the difficulty of the 6 to Konate. In essence, we're replacing the position that allowed Fabinho to recover some form at the end of last year rather than the lone 6 position he was playing before February. That does give me some reassurance a younger player can adapt and thrive in that context. The problem is we're reliant on Konate's fitness to make the whole thing work.
