Oriol Romeu's Chelsea nightmare has come to an end, after he completed a £5million move to Southampton.
The ex-Barcelona midfielder has signed a three-year contract at St. Mary’s, where he will compete with the likes of Jordy Clasie and Victor Wanyama for a starting place in the centre of Southampton’s midfield.
A turbulent spell in West London
Romeu, 23, signed for Chelsea in 2011, having just graduated from Barcelona’s famous ‘La Masia’ academy, and didn’t take long to state his intent upon arrival, with a couple of dominant midfield performances for the reserves landing him a Blues debut in September, in the 2-1 away win at Sunderland.
The Spaniard played 24 times that season, including a substitute appearance at the end of Chelsea’s FA Cup Final win over Liverpool and a spot on the bench for the Champions League Final win, albeit never actually coming on. If it weren’t for persistently niggling injuries, he’d have played a lot more; Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto di Matteo both proving big fans of the then-teenager.
The following campaign ended around December for Romeu, with another injury, this time serious, ruling him out for the remainder of the season. Disappointing news for an ever-improving youngster, who had scored his first goal for the club, a penalty, in their 6-0 thrashing of Wolves in the Capital One Cup third round just three months earlier.
Upon Jose Mourinho’s return to the club in 2013, the Spanish midfielder was clearly seen as surplus to requirements with so many players of his position already at the club and clearly higher up Jose’s pecking order, so Romeu was shipped back to his homeland to play for Sevilla for the 2013/14 season, making 18 appearances for the eventual Europa League winners.
Cut to August 2014 and the now-22-year-old was again sent out on loan, this time to Stuttgart, in the Bundesliga, but not before, strangely, signing a contract extension, to keep him at the club until 2017. Romeu’s impact on the German side was much more significant, the loanee featured 27 times for the relegation-threatened outfit, who eventually avoided the drop by a single point.
Pasteurs new
Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly given his injury history, Romeu is yet to make his debut for the Spanish national team, despite racking up 39 appearances for the youth sides since 2007. He also appeared for his country at the 2012 Olympics in London, but was unable to prevent the world champions finishing bottom of their group.
Romeu goes into 2015/16 with a renewed sense of optimism; a key part in an optimistic, young side in Southampton, led by Ronald Koeman. This is his best chance yet to prove to the Premier League that he can deal with the pressure of the world’s most competitive league – only time will tell.