With Barcelona still looking for a pivot midfielder in the transfer market, they have narrowed their search to Oriol Romeu after ruling out moves for Martin Zubimendi, Joshua Kimmich, and Marcelo Brozovic.
The Girona midfielder is someone that knows that Barcelona system well, having come through the youth ranks at the club and even made two senior appearances.
The 31-year-old has accrued a lot of top-level experience during his time in England and Barça are ready to make a move for him even though there are some doubters within the club about the operation.
Now, Toni Juanmarti is reporting that Romeu himself is ‘excited’ about the possibility of being a Barcelona player once again after having not gotten a chance to make it big during his first stint at the club.
As mentioned earlier, Romeu does not generate total consensus at Barça with several believing that the club could look at options from within such as Nico Gonzalez or using the likes of Frenkie de Jong and Ilkay Gundogan in the deep midfield position.
But, as things stand, the Catalans appear to be going after his signing and Romeu, for his part, seems excited about the possibility of moving back to his boyhood club.
Girona are understood to be unaware of Barcelona’s plans for Romeu despite some reports suggesting that talks are progressing. And they do not intend to lose their ace midfielder this summer.
There have been talks of Romeu’s contract containing a €10 million release clause. While Juanmarti does not confirm the exact amount, he reports that the clause is greater than €6 million. And Girona will only consider a sale if that amount is met and will not reduce it even if a player is offered.
With Xavi keen on having Romeu signed up before the pre-season, the next week will be crucial in the pursuit.
