The “Barcelona” midfielder suffers from knee pain when playing for long periods of time
After a strong start to his second season as a Barcelona player, Oriol Romeu has seen his form decline in recent weeks.
The 32-year-old midfielder signed for Barca de Girona during the summer transfer window for a fee worth around €4m.
The La Masia graduate, who has returned to his boyhood club, started the season fairly well, but his form has dropped significantly in recent games.
Coping with knee pain
On this occasion, SPORT’s Tony Juanmarti (as Barçacentre) provided some interesting information on Romeu and some of the fitness issues facing the veteran midfielder.
According to an update, the former Chelsea and Southampton midfielder is dealing with knee pain as his minutes on the pitch increase.
This could be due to Romeu’s poor performance in recent weeks, which saw him left out of the starting XI for last Saturday’s game against Real Madrid.
Even after coming on as a substitute, the Spaniard struggled to score the winning goal against Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham in extra time.
Barcelona have had several injuries this season and Romeu’s knee problem is a concern for Xavi and team-mates.
As such, reports suggest that Barcelona will sign a central midfielder in the January transfer window despite their poor financial situation.
The defensive midfield position is the only position in the team without two players in the starting line-up.
Xavi has deployed the likes of Ilkay Gundogan, Marc Casado and even Gavi in deeper roles and the club could test the latter option further.
Meanwhile, the coaching staff began exploring the possibility of recruiting a new point guard in January.
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