Oriol Romeu is reportedly interested in joining Celta Vigo from Southampton this month.
According to claims from Galicia Press, the 28-year-old is ‘seduced’ by the prospect of linking up with Oscar Garcia in his homeland of Spain.
Reports from Vigo on Thursday indicated that Romeu, along with Southampton teammate Sofiane Boufal, had emerged as a target for the club in the January transfer window.
Celta sporting director Felipe Minambres has also confirmed that the La Liga outfit want to sign a defensive midfielder in the near future after Stanislav Lobotka joined Napoli this week.
Read Southampton’s verdict
Although Romeu has found himself on the fringes of late, we feel it would be wise to keep him until the end of the season, at the very least.
The Spaniard has not started a Premier League game since the 2-1 defeat to Everton in November, with Ralph Hasenhuttl preferring the partnership of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and James Ward-Prowse in the middle.
We think the aforementioned pairing has, despite its initial teething problems, blossomed into a force to be reckoned with. Hojbjerg hasn’t particularly impressed us this term, but Ward-Prowse has stepped up of late, with four goals to his name this season.
Romeu has come on in stoppage time during Southampton’s two most-recent top-flight wins, and it seems Hasenhuttl is comfortable with utilising him only to see games out.
At 28, though, it is hard to imagine that the midfielder is happy with his role as a backup. Therefore, the prospect of a return to Spain does make a lot of sense.
Keeping Romeu until the summer would be the best course of action, in our opinion, as Saints hardly have a wealth of senior options in the middle of the park.
However, he has just one and a half years left on his contract at Southampton and having been a good servant to the club since his transfer in 2015, it would be hard to stand in his way if he does indeed desire a move to Celta Vigo.
