Barcelona star opens up on difficult mental battles in first season – “If I lost a game, I couldn’t sleep”

Last summer, Oriol Romeu got his dream move back to Barcelona, where he has previously been part of La Masia. However, that delight soon turned sour, and it ended up being one of the toughest seasons of his life.

Romeu was signed as the “replacement” for Sergio Busquets, who departed Barcelona last summer to join up with Lionel Messi at Inter Miami. However, he failed to live up to the billing, and was very quickly benched by Xavi Hernandez, who failed to utilise him much at all throughout the remainder of the campaign.

Speaking to 3Cat’s L’Eclipsi show (via Relevo), Romeu opened on the difficult mental battles that he has faced at Barcelona over the last 12 months.

“The physical aspect has not been what I would have liked, and the mental aspect, neither, because I have not performed as I expected on an individual level. I’m someone who demands a lot of myself, and this could have also negatively affected my performance. If I lost a game, I couldn’t sleep. I’ve also been a bit caught up in overthinking things.”

Romeu also opened up on the tag of being the Busquets replacement.

“I value what Busquets has done a lot, but I didn’t come with the intention of replacing him. I demanded more of myself than what I was asked.”

It does appear that the 2023-24 season will be Romeu’s one and only back at Barcelona, as he has been heavily linked with a return to Girona, whom he signed from last summer. He should have more prominence in Michel Sanchez’s side, were he was a nailed starter before.

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