Lacey was making the u18s look too easy this season. Wasn't he only quiet in like 1-3 games, one of those being the Bayern u19 match?
Going off of transfermarkt hasnt he only played 5 games in the u18 league and then 3 in europe this season before injury? If we go with the 18s alone where he did better 2 goals and 3 assists in 5 is a good start. He had 3 goals and 2 assists in 12 games last season in the 18s so thats a big improvement as well.
However 5 goals and 2 assists in 5 games for Mantato is a great start. Its hard to get any better and he isnt in his 2nd season with the 18s... Again its such a great start that in another 5-10 games he might not be keeping it up. We'll have to wait and see with Mantato but very early days into his u18 career he looks a great talent.
With Lacey I think its more that he's very smooth running with the ball so when he sets up or scores a goal its instantly a great clip. But the output and regularity isn't amazing yet. He isnt that fast. He's pretty small and weak and he'll get better at those things but there are players who already have them and are setting up and scoring more goals at this level. And he will probably never be that speedy or resilliant to physical contact. He can still be a great player without them but he would have to match or better the end product of the players that are better at those things in the same position. Hopefully he can do that
As others have suggested maybe he could play in the middle but he'd need to take up a Bruno type role behind the striker else the size and strength part becomes an issue again. He might find himself frustrated like Angel Gomes was that he wasn't getting adult football. And again you'd need fantastic output in that role. It wouldnt be good enough to be a pleasing to watch dribbler that occasionally gets a goal or puts a teammate in
