Jadon Sancho has praised his former Manchester City team-mate Romeo Lavia after the youngster scored his first Premier League goal for Southampton.
The duo both came through City's academy before Sancho moved to Borussia Dortmund in 2017, and then on to Manchester United last year. Meanwhile, Lavia left the Etihad Stadium earlier this summer to join the Saints, and he opened his account for his new club when he scored the equaliser in Southampton's 2-1 win against Chelsea on Tuesday.
They may have gone their separate ways in recent years, but Sancho is clearly still keeping a close eye on his ex-team-mate, and he sent Lavia a classy message on Instagram alongside a picture of the two of them together from 2017, plus an image of the two of them playing against each other when Southampton took on United last Saturday.
'Five years later. You stuck to your dream and believed in yourself, that's so inspiring to see,' he wrote.
'Keep doing your thing bro, the world is at your feet. Very special player.'
Sancho was not the only former City player to acknowledge Lavia's achievement as Fernandinho also reached out to the Belgian prospect after his impressive strike beat Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
'@RomeoLavia Congrats on the first goal as professional bro. Great game and great win,' the Brazilian tweeted.
Lavia has settled into life at St Mary's quickly, starting all five of their league matches to date.
However, he now looks set for a spell on the sidelines after going off injured on the hour mark against Chelsea.
Ralph Hasenhuttl admitted afterwards that he does not expect to see Lavia back on the pitch any time soon.
'Two intense Premier League games in three days is a completely unknown experience for him.
'I think this is something that I can take on my side that I have to be more careful about how much we can force them to show their quality. Now's he out for long and this is not good,' he said.
Southampton will hope Lavia returns sooner than expected as they look to build on their positive start to the campaign which has seen them move into the top half of the table.