 Romeu playing forVfB Stuttgart in 2014 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Oriol Romeu Vidal[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1991-09-24)24 September 1991 (age 34) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Ulldecona, Spain | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[2] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Defensive midfielder | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Southampton | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 28 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1996–2001 | Ulldecona | ||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2004 | Espanyol | ||||||||||||||||
| 2004–2008 | Barcelona | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2008–2011 | Barcelona B | 45 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2010–2011 | Barcelona | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011–2015 | Chelsea | 22 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2013–2014 | →Valencia (loan) | 13 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2014–2015 | →VfB Stuttgart (loan) | 27 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015–2022 | Southampton | 217 | (7) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | Girona | 33 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2023–2025 | Barcelona | 28 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2024–2025 | →Girona (loan) | 25 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2025– | Southampton | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2007–2008 | Spain U17 | 5 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2009–2010 | Spain U19 | 11 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2009–2011 | Spain U20 | 8 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011–2012 | Spain U21 | 10 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2012 | Spain U23 | 5 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019– | Catalonia | 4 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 27 May 2025 (UTC) | |||||||||||||||||
Oriol Romeu Vidal (Spanish pronunciation:[oˈɾjolroˈmew]; born 24 September 1991) is a Spanish professionalfootballer who plays as adefensive midfielder forEFL Championship clubSouthampton.
Romeu began his career atBarcelona, playing mainly in their reserves atBarcelona B. In 2011, he joinedChelsea for €5 million, spending time on loan atValencia andVfB Stuttgart before moving toSouthampton four years later. He played 256 times for Southampton during his first spell with the club. Romeu joinedGirona in 2022 before returning to Barcelona in July 2023. He spent the 2024–25 season on loan at former club Girona. Romeu rejoined Southampton in November 2025.
Romeu represented Spain up tounder-21 level, and was part of theirunder-17 team which won the2008 European Championship. He also played for the country at the2012 Olympics.
Born inUlldecona,Tarragona,Catalonia, Romeu started his career at his local side CF Ulldecona. He arrived inBarcelona's youth academy in 2004, from neighboursEspanyol, and progressed through the club'syouth academy until breaking into thereserve team.[3] ManagerPep Guardiola handed him his first appearance for the senior side in a friendly againstKuwaiti teamKazma SC, and subsequently included him in the squad for the2009 FIFA Club World Cup which took place inAbu Dhabi.[4]
Romeu was included in the nineteen-man Barcelona squad on 13 August 2010, due to the need to rest some of Barcelona's Spanish internationals. He was to faceSevilla in the first leg ofthe season'sSpanish Supercup. He made his official competitive debut in that game, playing the full ninety minutes in the 1–3 away loss.[5][6]
Romeu made his firstLa Liga appearance on 15 May 2011, playing the last ten minutes of a 0–0 home draw againstDeportivo La Coruña in the place of another club youth graduate,Jonathan dos Santos.[7]
Reports began to link Romeu with a move toChelsea on 22 July 2011.[8] The following day he agreed terms for his transfer, pending a medical or personal terms as he was away on international duty at the2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup.[9] On 4 August the English club announced the completion of the transfer, with the player signing a four-year contract[10] in a deal worth€5 million – the deal also gave Barcelona first refusal via a buy back option should Chelsea deem him surplus to requirements, seeing Barcelona pay €10 million in 2012 or €15 million in 2013 to bring him back to theCamp Nou;[11] he was given the number 6 shirt forthe new campaign.[12]
Romeu made his official debut for Chelsea on 10 September 2011, being brought on as asubstitute in the 79th minute of the 2–1 away win againstSunderland.[13] He received his first start on the 21st, in a 0–0 draw (penalty shootout win) againstFulham forthe season'sFootball League Cup.[14]
Romeu's firstUEFA Champions League appearance came on 19 October 2011, playing the full 90 minutes in a 5–0group stage home win againstGenk.[15] His first start in thePremier League was againstWolverhampton Wanderers on 26 November, putting in a solid performance in a 3–0 home win.[16]
In December 2011, Chelsea issued a statement regarding the deal surrounding Romeu's buy back clause with Barcelona. The statement highlighted that theBlaugrana did not have an automatic buy back clause as first suggested, only having first refusal on any deal if the Blues wanted to sell him in the future.[17]
On 25 September 2012, Romeu scored his first goal for Chelsea, taking apenalty in a 6–0 win against Wolves atStamford Bridge in theLeague Cup.[18] ManagerRoberto Di Matteo stated that the departures ofYossi Benayoun,Michael Essien andRaul Meireles would mean more playing opportunities for the Spaniard; however, on 11 December, he suffered a knee injury in a game againstSunderland, being sidelined for the rest ofthe season.[19]
On 12 July 2013, Romeu returned to Spain and joinedValencia in aseason-long loan deal.[20] He made his debut for the club on 15 September, in a 3–1 defeat atReal Betis.[21] In February, during training Romeu suffered another knee injury that kept him out of action for a month.[22] During his time with Valencia, Romeu played 18 games.
On 17 July 2014, Romeu signed a new contract with Chelsea, keeping him at the club until 2017.[23] On 4 August, however, he was loaned toVfB Stuttgart in Germany.[24] He made his debut twenty days later in a 1–1 draw atBorussia Mönchengladbach.[25]
On 13 August 2015, Romeu joinedSouthampton for £5 million on a three-year deal.[26][27] He made his debut two days later, as a half-time substitute forDušan Tadić in a 3–0 home defeat toEverton, earning a booking after three minutes for a foul onJames McCarthy.[28] He scored his first goal for the Saints – and first in a professional league – on 5 December, equalising for a 1–1 draw againstAston Villa atSt Mary's Stadium.[29]
After missing only one league game all season forClaude Puel's Saints, Romeu signed a new four-and-a-half-year deal on 24 January 2017.[30] Puel compared Romeu to Chelsea playerN'Golo Kanté.[31] He was voted the club'sPlayer of the Season,[32] at the end of a campaign that saw them reach theEFL Cup Final.[33]
In November 2020, Romeu signed a new contract to keep him at Southampton until the summer of 2023.[34] On 23 February 2021,talkSPORT commentator Mark Wilson stated that Romeu produced "one of the greatest tackles of all time" after he made up a serious amount of ground to preventLeeds United forwardRaphinha from scoring, but the game ended in a 3–0 defeat.[35] In the same game, he picked up an ankle injury and required surgery, which was expected to see him miss the remainder of the season.[36] However, he was able to make an appearance on the final day of the2020–21 season, replacingKyle Walker-Peters in Southampton’s 3–0 defeat toWest Ham United.[37]
On 1 September 2022, Romeu completed a permanent transfer toGirona.[38] Later that month, on 9 September, he scored his firstLa Liga goal, securing a 2–1 victory overReal Valladolid.[39]
On 19 July 2023, Romeu returned to his former club, Barcelona, on a three-year contract.[40] He made his second debut for the club on 13 August in a 0–0 draw withGetafe.[41]
On 5 August 2024, Romeu rejoined Girona on a season-long loan deal.[42] On the expiry of the loan, his contract with Barcelona was terminated by mutual agreement.[43]
On 6 November 2025, Romeu returned to his former club, Southampton, on a contract until the end of the season.[44]
Romeu participated in the2008 UEFA Under-17 Championship withSpain, playing four matches and helping his country to eventual victory in the tournament.[45]
After making his professional début for Barcelona in 2009, Romeu became a mainstay in theunder-19 andunder-20 national teams, featuring heavily in the2010 UEFA Under-19 Championship elite qualification round.[46]
He was part of the Spanish squad which was eliminated fromits group at the2012 Olympics,[citation needed] coming on as a substitute in their first match and starting the last.[citation needed]
Romeu, who is known for his interest in literature,[47] wrote an autobiographyLa temporada de mi vida, el viaje interior de un futbolista (The season of my life, the inside voyage of a footballer).[48]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Barcelona B | 2008–09 | Segunda División B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 5 | 0 | |||
| 2009–10 | Segunda División B | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 4[c] | 0 | 26 | 0 | |||
| 2010–11 | Segunda División | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 18 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 45 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 4 | 0 | 49 | 1 | ||||
| Barcelona | 2010–11 | La Liga | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 1[d] | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Chelsea | 2011–12[50] | Premier League | 16 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3[e] | 0 | — | 24 | 0 | |
| 2012–13[51] | Premier League | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1[e] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | |
| Total | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 1 | ||
| Valencia (loan) | 2013–14 | La Liga | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 4[f] | 0 | — | 18 | 0 | ||
| VfB Stuttgart (loan) | 2014–15 | Bundesliga | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 28 | 0 | |||
| Southampton | 2015–16[52] | Premier League | 29 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2[f] | 0 | — | 35 | 2 | |
| 2016–17[53] | Premier League | 35 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6[f] | 0 | — | 46 | 1 | ||
| 2017–18[54] | Premier League | 34 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 40 | 1 | |||
| 2018–19[55] | Premier League | 31 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 33 | 1 | |||
| 2019–20[56] | Premier League | 30 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 35 | 0 | |||
| 2020–21[57] | Premier League | 21 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 23 | 1 | |||
| 2021–22[58] | Premier League | 36 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 42 | 2 | |||
| 2022–23[59] | Premier League | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 217 | 7 | 16 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 8 | 0 | — | 256 | 8 | |||
| Girona | 2022–23[59] | La Liga | 33 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 34 | 2 | |||
| Barcelona | 2023–24[60] | La Liga | 28 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 7[e] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 0 | |
| Girona (loan) | 2024–25[61] | La Liga | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 6[e] | 0 | — | 31 | 0 | ||
| Southampton | 2025–26[62] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 412 | 10 | 23 | 1 | 20 | 1 | 29 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 489 | 12 | ||
Barcelona
Chelsea
Southampton
Spain U17
Spain U19
Individual
 | ||
