Oriol Romeu to Southampton: Chelsea midfielder closing in on St Mary's move

EXCLUSIVE: Fee has been agreed between the clubs

Oriol Romeu in action for Chelsea (Getty Images)

Southampton are close to signing Oriol Romeu from Chelsea.

The Spanish 23-year-old midfielder was this morning heading to Southampton for a medical after a fee was agreed between the two clubs for a permanent transfer. Southampton hope to complete the move later today.

Romeu began his career at Barcelona but was signed by Chelsea for £5million as a promising 19-year-old in 2011. He quickly broke into the first team under then-head coach Andre Villas Boas but suffered a knee ligament injury which ruled him out for eight months. Romeu has spent the last two seasons on loan, 2013-14 at Valencia, 2014-15 at Stuttgart.

While Romeu’s last competitive game in English football was in 2012, when Rafael Benitez was in charge at Stamford Bridge, Southampton are still buying a talented young holding midfielder which an exceptional football education. Having lost Morgan Schneiderlin to Manchester United, Southampton need reinforcements in central midfield to cope with their Europa League schedule. They have already signed Jordi Clasie from Feyenoord, who suffered a slight hamstring tweak on his debut against Vitesse Arnhem in the Europa League.