After being unable to make the break-through at Manchester United – like so many before and after him – he made a real name for himself at Championship level with Ipswich Town.
In theory, Ipswich should have been a real struggle for him, much like his challenging early stints under Steve Evans at Rotherham, Gary Bowyer at Blackburn and Russell Slade at Cardiff.
As an enigmatic wide forward, Lawrence was playing in a team lacking quality, under a strict 4-4-2 disciple in Mick McCarthy.
In fact, Lawrence shone at Portman Road; he scored 11 goals in 2016-17 and most of them either came from wonderful solo runs or delightful strikes from distances, some a mixture of the two.
Because Lawrence was by far the most technically gifted player in that Town team, he was made to feel special and empowered while all the play went through him.
It was a similar situation under Gary Rowett at Derby County, where Matej Vydra played as effectively a second striker in a 4-2-3-1 while Andreas Weimann was disciplined on the right flank, so Lawrence had the freedom to cut inside from the left and cause havoc – there was nobody in that team trying to do a similar thing.