Barcelona are set to enter the January transfer market after deciding that they can no longer continue with Oriol Romeu as their only pivot this season.
The Blaugrana are doing what they can to sign Vitor Roque from Athletico Paranaense this winter, rather than waiting until the summer, but Sporting Director Deco declared even that ‘difficult’.
However it appears that Deco will have to get creative in January. Relevo say that Barcelona have decided to act as a matter of urgency in order to bring in another pivot to compete with Oriol Romeu.
The former Girona and Southampton midfielder started off the season well, but in recent matches has struggled, and did not improve things when he came on against Real Madrid. The report states that the technical team are already scouring the market for potential options.
🚨 JUST IN: Barcelona are urgently looking for a new pivot in January. It should be a similar operation to the ones of the Joãos. The player must make an unquestionable effort to join Barça, only then it's possible to sign someone who for now perhaps seems out of range.…
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) October 30, 2023
They also go on to highlight that without Romeu, Barcelona are scoring 2.9 goals per game on average compared to 1.3 goals with him, and are conceding a goal per game with him in the side, while that number drops to 0.6 per game without him.
If they do bring someone in this January, it seems highly likely to be someone on loan. Barcelona are well over their salary limit this season, so any margin for extra salaries or fees will have to be made from sales, exits or savings, although it is not clear how much marginn they currently have. It will be Deco’s first opportunity to show his value without sharing the credit with Mateu Alemany.
I was a proponent of Oriol Romeu when he was with the Barca B squad a while ago, but there’s a reason he didn’t make it to the first team. He’s just not good for Barcelona. His offensive presence is null, he loses a lot of balls and his defensive ability isn’t as noticeable as it should be either. Perhaps someone else from the Barca Atletic should be promoted in that position. There are plenty of options and, while I understand it’s a position that requires experience, we’ve seen the likes of Bajcetic and Warren Zaire-Emery perform well despite their young age.