OFFICIAL: Oriol Romeu terminates his contract with FC Barcelona

Oriol Romeu and FC Barcelona are finally parting ways. After a series of reports indicated that the midfielder would terminate his contract as a player for the Blaugrana team, this is now a reality.

The Catalan club and the pivot from Ulldocona had been negotiating for days the termination of the contract that initially expired in 2026. The 33-year-old player, aware that he was not in the club's plans for 25/26, did not oppose the idea to facilitate his signing with a free transfer to another club.

Finally, Barça announced the termination of the midfielder's contract this Friday, five days after the closing of the summer market, although everything was closed since last week. Now, the Blaugrana youth player is aiming for a new adventure abroad, after three seasons in LaLiga with Girona (22/23, 24/25) and Barcelona (23/24).

Romeu's departure, key to registering Gerard Martín

In this sense, the termination of Oriol Romeu's contract, closed for all purposes on August 28, became in recent days a key move to unlock one of the pending registrations within the first team. 

Thanks to his departure, the club was able to enable Gerard Martín for the match of matchday 3 against Rayo (1-1). Similarly, the recent departure of Iñaki Peña to Elche paved the way for the registration of Wojciech Szczesny, who was also on the bench in Vallecas.

Now, the only player pending registration with the first team is Roony Bardghji. The Swede received a license as a player for Barça Atlètic, but he does not plan to play any game with Juliano Belletti's team this season.

Therefore, it would not be surprising if Flick keeps him out of his calls while the club fails to register him in LaLiga. Beyond this, the 19-year-old striker was enabled in the official Barça squad for the Champions League league phase.

Oriol Romeu says goodbye to Barça after a lackluster spell

Oriol Romeu, training at the Ciutat Esportiva of FC Barcelona.

In the case of Oriol Romeu, the player trained at La Masia formally closes his third farewell to FC Barcelona. After leaving in 2011, he returned to Barcelona in the summer of 2023 after the departure of Sergio Busquets.

Barça brought him back by paying his release clause of 3.4 million euros to Girona. However, his time at the Blaugrana club was marked by loan spells and the poor performance shown when he had opportunities.

In his first season, 2023/24, under the orders of Xavi Hernández, he participated in 37 matches, where he could barely provide 1 assist. After the arrival of Flick for the 2024/25 campaign, he went on loan to his former team, the 'Rojiblanco' team, with which he played 31 matches the previous season.

This summer, however, he had to return to the Blaugrana team, knowing he was a fixed discard for Hansi Flick. The coach did not take him into account because the squad has enough quality and youth for the pivot position, with Frenkie de Jong, Marc Casadó and Marc Bernal as alternatives.

This is how Romeu's return ended up being, with hardly any prominence in his first season and leaving the club with one year of contract to fulfill and without any title. Now he will have to decide in which team he will continue his career.

Both Galatasaray and some teams from the MLS have sounded out his situation. With the market closed in the five major leagues, Turkey or Arabia seem to be the most reasonable destinations for the Ulldenona native.