FC Barcelona Announce New Signing

FC Barcelona have announced their third major signing of the summer.

On Twitter just before 09.00 on Wednesday morning in Catalonia, the Blaugrana revealed that defensive midfielder Oriol Romeu has rejoined them from Girona.

Barca released a short nine-second clip that begins in front of Antonio Gaudi’s La Pedrera on Passeig de Gracia, which is one of the main thoroughfares in Barcelona city center.

An anonymous arm holds up a drawing with a picture of Romeu celebrating a goal with a teammate in the club’s new home shirt, which has ‘BEN TORNAT, ORIOL!’ written across it in Catalan which means ‘WELCOME BACK, ORIOL!’.

The clip was captioned as such on Barca’s English Twitter account too, and it continues with the paper upright in various other locations before Romeu finally appears in front of a block of flats.

In a grey Barca polo, the 31-year-old takes a step forward to the camera and says: “I’m coming home, Culers,” in reference to the club’s fans.

Barca also released a statement captioned: “Oriol Romeu, third signing for FC Barcelona”.

“FC Barcelona and Girona FC have reached an agreement for the transfer of the player Oriol Romeu. The player will sign a contract with the Club for the next three seasons, until 30 June 2026, and his buy out clause is set at €400 million ($449 million),” it began.

As communicated by talk of welcoming him back and Romeu saying he was coming home, Barca explained will play for them for the second time in his career after first joining the La Masia academy in 2004.

“The midfielder from Ulldecona in Catalonia moved through the categories to form part of the Barca Atletic [reserve] squad under then coach Luis Enrique, gaining experience playing in the Second Division of Spanish Football. Romeu made his first team debut in the 2010/11, playing twice that season under Pep Guardiola,” the club said.

Those were Romeu’s only appearances for his boyhood club, however, before he then headed north to England struggling for minutes amid competition from Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano.

He suffered similar difficulties nailing down a place at Chelsea but still managed a Champions League win in 2012 before loan assignments at Valencia and Stuttgart.

Further south in England, Romeu truly found his feet at Southampton where he became a fan favorite and notched 256 appearances from 2015 to 2022.

Returning to Catalonia and La Liga last summer, Romeu enjoyed an impressive season at Girona where Barca noted that he played more minutes than anyone with 3,042 of them down on the clock as Barca’s regional neighbors finished 10th in their first season back in the top flight.

Barca concluded by saying that Romeu “has great experience and knows the Club from his previous spell as a blaugrana and the style of play Xavi Hernández wants to impress on his team”.

“[At] 32 years of age in September, the midfielder has shown what he can do in La Liga and will look to perform right from the off,” the statemented finished.

Different to Ilkay Gundogan and Inigo Martinez who arrived on frees, it is believed that Barca will pay Girona €4.5 million ($5 million) for Romeu.