Southampton transfer news: Saints sign Oriol Romeu for £5m from Chelsea to strengthen midfield

Having lost Morgan Schneiderlin to Manchester United, the club need reinforcements to cope with their Europa League schedule

Oriol Romeu has spent the last two seasons on loan after injury interrupted his early career (Getty Images)

Southampton have signed Oriol Romeu from Chelsea for a fee which is understood to be £5m. The 23-year-old Spanish midfielder underwent a medical after a fee was agreed between the two clubs for a permanent transfer.

Romeu began his career at Barcelona but was signed by Chelsea for £5m as a promising 19-year-old in 2011. He quickly broke into the first team under the 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, in 2013-14 at Valencia and last season 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.

Joey Barton’s proposed move to West Ham has been called off, allegedly because too many fans were against the idea given the 32-year-old midfielder’s chequered history on and off the pitch.

West Ham’s chairman David Gold tweeted to confirm there would be no deal, while Barton posted a video to say he had “no hard feelings” over the matter.

The Sunderland winger Adam Johnson will be out of action for at least two months after injuring his shoulder during training.

The Sunderland manager Dick Advocaat said: “Adam will go to the hospital for a scan, then we will know exactly what is wrong. It is a serious injury and it will be at least eight weeks.”