Over the past decade, Barcelona have established themselves as the most successful team in Europe with a horde of titles and honours. The Catalans play with a certain principle and ideology that requires players of a specific kind. Not everyone who makes a move to the Camp Nou realize their dreams and have had to move away because of their failure to settle into the philosophy of the Blaugrana.
Here, we take a look at five former Barcelona players, who moved away from the club, and are enjoying a great current season:
5. Oriol Romeu
Romeu joined the famed La Masia academy from fellow Catalan club Espanyol ahead of the 2008 season. Romeu was tipped for big things in Catalonia, but he struggled to break into the first team, appearing only twice for Barca before joining Chelsea in the summer of 2011.
Five years later, Romeu is finally showing his quality at Southampton, who he joined in 2015. The departures of Morgan Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama have helped him get a regular playing time at St. Mary’s and the Spaniard has made full use of the chances he has gotten. Romeu has been in fine form for the Saints this season, and has been one of the main reasons Southampton have been solid defensively.
Romeu has been extremely effective for Claude Puel’s side breaking up play with important tackles and interceptions, while his physicality has been very advantageous in defending set-piece situations. At 25, Romeu is approaching his peak years and could very well develop into a fine defensive midfielder.