Chelsea agrees fee with Barcelona for Oriol Romeu
Posted Sunday, July 24, 2011 by YAHOO Sport
Chelsea has agreed terms with Barcelona over a deal for young defensive midfielder Oriol Romeu.
Romeu, who is in Colombia with the Spain under-20 side, will now have talks with Stamford Bridge officials according to the club's official website. The deal is expected to cost the London club around five million euros.
The youngster is thought to be highly regarded with the Catalan club and last season made two appearances for them, one in the Super Cup and once as a substitute in La Liga.
His signing would possibly help Chelsea cope with the loss of Michael Essien, who is expected to miss a large portion of the season with a knee injury.
The 19-year-old is just one of the club's teenage targets after goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois signed from Genk earlier in the week and a bid has allegedly been made for Anderlecht striker Romelu Lukaku.
Having recovered from knee ligament damage which kept him out action for four months last season, Romeu became a regular in the Barcelona B side.
Chelsea's interest in Romeu, who can also play as a central defender, comes after another one of its supposed targets, Barcelona's Thiago Alcantara, signed a new deal at Camp Nou keep him with the European champions until 2015.
Chelsea manager, Andre Villas-Boas, stated that he intends to strengthen his midfield due to Michael Essien's knee injury and is full of praise of the underage Spanish international:
"It is a part of the squad in which we are struggling with numbers because of Michael Essien's injury and Oriol is a player with a bright future. He still has to evolve as a player."
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