Chelsea face battle to retain Oriol Romeu amid Valencia interest

Chelsea midfielder Oriol Romeu (GETTY IMAGES)

Chelsea could lose Oriol Romeu to Valencia according to reports in the Spanish press.

The 20-year-old midfielder impressed on arrival at Stamford Bridge but has hardly played under new manager Roberto Di Matteo, prompting interest from the Spanish club.

Spanish sports paper Super Deporte claim that Valencia sent scouts to watch Romeu, who unfortunately for them was an unused substitute in last night’s 6-0 thrashing of Croatia U21s, with a view to making a €5m move for the player.

However such a fee would surely be seen as derisory by the London club, particularly as the midfielder is in line for more playing time, following Raul Meireles’ sale to Fenerbahce and Michael Essien’s loan to Real Madrid.

According to some Chelsea could be resigned to losing the player to Barcelona anyway, due to a reported £12m buy-back clause in his contract, and although the club have insisted that any such clause is optional rather than mandatory, Spanish press reports have repeatedly claimed otherwise.

Newspaper El Mundo Deportivo has even suggested that the Catalan giants could be willing to exploit this clause and co-operate with Valencia to help bring Romeu back to Spain.

While there are still almost four months to go until the next transfer window, Chelsea will surely be keen to resist any interest in a player who looks to have a bright future ahead of him.