Southampton have signed Chelsea midfielder Oriol Romeu on a 3 year contract for £5 million.
Romeu only made 34 appearances for the Blues after signing from Barcelona in 2011, spending the last two season on loan at Stuttgart and then Valencia.
The Southampton executive director of football, Les Reed, said that Romeu was exactly the sort of player that fitted the Saints’ profile in that he is “young, hungry and developed at a top academy”, and that he had “been on the radar” of the club for some time.
Reed continued, “Like Ryan Bertrand, we believe we have recruited another Chelsea player with an excellent pedigree but also with lots of potential to develop”.
The player himself said, “After spending two years on loan, I needed something permanent and a club with a future – and I think I chose the right one”.
Romeu becomes Southampton’s 7th signing of the summer, following the likes of Juanmi, Cedric Soares, Jordy Clasie and Steven Caulker to St. Mary’s.