As a youngster Oriol Romeu worked his way up the Catalonian football ladder to end up playing one game for Barcelona. That was before Chelsea made room for him in their stables, a month before he turned 20. He did make over 20 appearances for the Londoners and then embarked on loan moves to Spain and Germany, extending his Chelsea contact along the way. Ronald Koeman who had just started on his second season in charge at Southampton, sanctioned a £5m permanent deal to bring him to St Mary’s and it wasn’t long until the fans warmed to the combative Spaniard’s tenacious midfield prowess.

Hard-working, disciplined and intelligent, all the managers who followed Koeman (and there were another four to come in Romeu’s seven year stay on the South Coast), came to regard him as a model professional. He very much embraced life in Hampshire, often going on social media to talk about the local area and its history, a personality trait that further endeared him to the supporters. He came to be regarded as indispensable and in 2017 was voted Player-of-the Season by both the fans and his fellow professionals. When news broke in August 2022 that he was in talks to join Girona, there was initially something of an outcry, but he was about to turn 31 and most understood a move back to his homeland to finish his career was a fitting reward. A year later in something of a surprise he signed for Barcelona who were then under financial restrictions. It neatly completed the circle for this most popular of players.

He signed a three-year contract but spent his second year back at Girona. That following summer he and Barcelona mutually agreed to terminate his contract which made him a free agent. With Southampton struggling at the wrong end of the Championship and having just sacked Will Still their manager, spirits were lifted when, very much out of the blue, came news that he had returned for a second spell at St Mary’s. Although his return coincided with an upturn in the club’s fortunes he played a very small part and in the ensuing summer he left once again, heading to the J1 in Japan