The departure of Oriol Romeu after a very disappointing first season at Barcelona seemed like a certainty this summer, with his former club Girona ready to welcome the midfielder back with open arms. But things might be changing as Barça’s preseason gets underway.
That’s according to Mundo Deportivo, who claim new manager Hansi Flick wants the club to keep the 32-year-old defensive midfielder at least for one more season and only let him go in case of an unforeseen, big transfer offer that would have a positive impact on Barça’s Financial Fair Play.
Romeu’s low wages would make his departure almost irrelevant to the Blaugrana’s salary cap, but Flick’s reasons for wanting the player to stay are not just financial: after the first couple of days of training the manager has been impressed with Oriol’s physical profile and thinks he can be an asset on certain situations throughout the season, and thinks Romeu is a better fit for his more direct style than Xavi Hernández’s positional play.