Koeman blesses (with a caveat) the potential signing of Oriol Romeu
"He is a Barça-cailbre player. He has shown at Girona that he is ready to succeed in the pivot position," said the Dutch coach.
Oriol Romeu made 35 appearances under Ronald Koeman in the 2015/16 season when he first pulled on a Southampton shirt. In his second (and final) year at St Mary's Stadium, the Dutch coach put his faith in the midfielder from Ulldecona, who is currently on FC Barcelona's agenda to reinforce the pivot position following the departure of Sergio Busquets. The Dutch coach has blessed the possible arrival of the Girona player to Xavi Hernandez's project.
"Romeu is a Barça-calibre player, yes, without a doubt. He has shown, with an extraordinary season at Girona, that he is ready to occupy the pivot position very well. But we are talking about another player who is old. I'm more in favour of looking for young people who can stay at the club for more years", said the Wembley hero, sincere as always, before the start of the 'Ronald Koeman Cup by Fundación Sportium', the charity golf event that he organises every year.
Beyond the question of age, Koeman has considered that the azulgrana sporting management should "look and think about the home-grown players before signing outside". He, who also knows Nico Gonzalez, believes that the Galician could fulfil the position of defensive midfielder. "It's a decision for the club to make. Last year he went to Valencia. He is young and can fill a need in the team", he added.
