Barcelona are in the process of trying to sign a new pivot following the departure of Sergio Busquets, whose contract at the club expired at midnight on Saturday morning.
Several targets had been identified, notably being Martin Zubimendi, Joshua Kimmich and Marcelo Brozovic. However, all three have been ruled out due to the club’s ailing financial situation, which will not allow them to spend big this summer.
Their latest top target is Oriol Romeu, who plays for Catalan rivals Girona. Xavi Hernandez is keen to sign the 31-year-old, and they cross paths many years ago, when Xavi was still playing and Romeu was at Barcelona.
Romeu later moved to Chelsea, and then Southampton. It was while he was at the latter that he decided to reach out the Xavi, in which he asked him for advice, as detailed by Relevo.
Romeu started his message by saying, “I was watching my games and I have a question that I would like to ask you. Overall, I’m feeling great, but there are certain phases of the game where I relax and make avoidable mistakes. I looked for a reference player who was almost perfect in activation and concentration during the match and you came to mind. I never saw you giving passes for giving them or with an excess of relaxation. How did you do it? Did you have any kind of message or ritual to play at such a high level for so long?”
Xavi responded a few hours later, saying “I’ve always been a very responsible guy. I hate to fail. I can’t. If I fail, I lash out. I’m like that, that’s how I’ve been made at home. It’s a sense of responsibility, even winning 2-0 or 3-0. I’m a perfectionist. Every ball I received with Barca or with Spain was as if it were the last and it depended on me, as if all the responsibility was mine.
“In the end it is normal for the body to relax, and more with a favourable marker. I was losing balls too. It is clear, and no matter how focused you are, you end up losing balls because you do not have the necessary information. Either to look before receiving or to look to the sides, or because you’ve been pressured well. It’s normal.”
The conversation is said to have “changed the course of Romeu’s career”, which could culminate in him joining Xavi’s Barcelona this summer.
