Via Liverpool.com
Arno van den Abbeel
"I believe he's one of the best,"
"I think in that position [holding midfielder], he is one of the best in the world of his age group."
Van den Abbeel will know better than most when it comes to the extent of Lavia's quality. The Belgian coach worked with him both at Anderlecht's academy and in the national setup at youth level
Van den Abbeel recalls
"He came into the club when he was eight or nine,"
"He played for a regional club, on a lower level before that. I remember he was already quite big for his age, he was quite tall. We played five vs five or eight vs eight in that age group and he played more in a central position."
"He was already technically quite good. And he was concentrated and quite focused on what you wanted to achieve already. So he was always eager to learn; he was always trying to do 100 per cent of what was asked of him. He was already quite mature for his age at that time."
"He was not so fast. In the beginning, he had some difficulties with speed and acceleration. But as he was growing up, he developed into a more explosive player as he got used to his body. It was just [being a little bit slow] growing fast at a very young age. So he had to develop some motor skills and coordination skills in the beginning."
"He did stand out. He was more like above average, in that age group."
Fast forward a few years though, and he crossed paths with Lavia once more, while working for the Belgian U15 national team.
"He was already playing an age group higher," Van den Abbeel recalls. "So he was playing under 16 and the staff of under 16s were telling me: 'You definitely have to call this player up.' He was playing the big tournaments with the club, so it was not always easy to call him up for smaller games or smaller detection moments."
"He was really standing out in his age group and he was, was a top level player at that time," Van den Abbeel says.
"He became a lot more explosive. He had a lot more speed and he was very mobile. He became very agile on the pitch. He could turn quickly, accelerate fast, he was technically superior and he had developed a good insight in the game.
"He was very proactive in the offensive level, but also defensive level. He played a lot of one-touch moments when he recuperated balls or intercepted balls. Most importantly, what pleased me a lot is that he still had the same drive, he was still very focused on what he wanted to achieve."
Van den Abbeel recalls using him as a center-back in some of the games at U15 level.
"I played him as a central defender, and he did really well there. I think it might have helped him develop the defensive skills or leadership skills he's showing now."
"They should all be like him. He was very, very focused, very eager to learn and always concentrated,"
"His mind was always on football and doing things he had to do to improve. It was really a pleasure to work with him."
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