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| Blues fans will be hoping Barca don't stay too close to Romeu's heart |
As a lot of you will know already, today Chelsea secured the services of Barcelona midfielder Oriol Romeu for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £4.5 million on a four year contract. Romeu is set to join the club when he returns from the U20 world cup in Columbia. What a lot of you may not know is the fact that Barcelona have secured two buy back clauses, one for €10m in 2012 and the other for €15m in 2013, but one of the main questions that Chelsea fans are asking is, will Romeu be begging to go back to Barcelona in a few years time when he's fully developed, like Cesc Fabregas is doing now?
By the sounds of his latest quote the answer to that is yes "Chelsea is a great option for me. Leaving Barca hurts, but you have to take your chances." Sounds like he still feels he could gain a first team place at Barca, but he is very glad to be given a first team opportunity by long term admirer Villas-Boas, who's already hinted at Romeu being given a first team place.
With Essien injured for six months from July, Romeu could really flourish this season, but would this just make him return to Spain too quickly? It is a hard balance to find, and hopefully we can convince Romeu to stay by giving him first team places and trophies, one of which is definitely hard to find in Barcelona. If he wins a big piece of silverware after playing a first team role in a growing team, with an ambitious manager, will he be more likely to want to go back to Catalonia to warm their benches once more. With Busquets and Mascherano seemingly ahead of him in the pecking order, will he want to go back?
On the pitch, Romeu is a traditional defensive midfielder pulled straight out of the Barcelona mould that they work so hard to build at their academy. With a lot of similarities to Sergio Busquets (apart from he's not a diving cheat, hopefully), he is a tall, strong player who fits the defensive midfield role perfectly. Strong in the challenge, Romeu presses the opposition in the usual Barca style, then attempts to win the ball off of them, and quickly move the play on upfield, or if not available, keep the ball by playing a simple option behind him or to the sides. One of his main attributes is his excellent tactical positioning, which allows him to be in the right place to win the ball and offload it further up the pitch.
This season could be a big one for Romeu, he has undoubted potential and has been scouted by many top class clubs around Europe, as it stands, Chelsea have got themselves a great deal, but it could go pear shaped if he was to return to Barcelona on one of the buy back clauses. I, and almost all other Chelsea fans hope Romeu is here to stay
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