Chelsea’s Romeo Lavia deal sets new Manchester City record for summer transfer earnings

Manchester City have set a new club record for money generated from academy sales in a single transfer window, following Chelsea’s signing of Romeo Lavia this week.

While first-team arrivals and transfer business has been reported at the highest level, Manchester City officials have been largely quietly going about their business generating vast sums of cash from their City Football Academy system.

The esteemed academy has been producing a plethora of talents over the course of the last decade or so, offering Pep Guardiola the next generation of young players to work with, and also providing the club with a consistent form of revenue through negotiations with clubs.

This summer has been one of Manchester City’s most high-profile transfer windows involving their academy, with the club having completed deals with fellow Premier League sides, European giants, and Championship teams over their academy talents.

The latest deal to have involved City’s academy system concerns Chelsea, and their blockbuster move for Southampton and Belgium international midfielder Romeo Lavia.

According to the information of the Manchester Evening News’ Simon Bajkowski, City will earn in the region of £8 million rising to £9 million from Romeo Lavia’s move to Chelsea, after the midfielder joined the club for an initial £53 million plus £5 million in add-ons.

Manchester City retained a sell-on clause of 20% on Lavia following his move to Southampton in 2022, taking that percentage cut of any profit the Saints would go on to make from the 19-year-old in future.

Manchester City have already secured a number of high-profile academy deals this summer with Shea Charles joining Southampton for £10.5 million rising to £15 million, and James Trafford moving to Burnley for £15 million rising to £19 million, while Carlos Borges completed a move to Dutch giants Ajax for a fee of £13 million rising to £17.1 million.

As such, and following Chelsea’s signing of Romeo Lavia, Manchester City have now earned a guaranteed £50.3 million from the sale of academy players this summer – setting a new club record and exceeding the £46.5 million they generated last summer.

Manchester City still have a number of other players to handle this summer, whilst making decisions as to whether their futures in the game are best aided by a permanent exit from the Etihad Stadium, or a temporary agreement.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis is valued at around £15 million by the Premier League champions and is commanding widespread interest from across the Premier League following a hugely successful spell on-loan at Burnley last season.

Luke Mbete, Tommy Doyle, and James McAtee are among the other names still yet to understand their future, with the latter having been touted as a potential option for Pep Guardiola’s first-team squad this season.

Finally, Cole Palmer is also on the verge of understanding where his top-level football will be played next season, having attracted interest from the likes of West Ham and Brighton and holding a valuation in excess of £30 million.