Barcelona star opens up on difficult mental battles in first season – 'If I lost a game, I couldn't sleep'

Last summer, Oriol Romeu got his dream back in Barcelona, ​​where he was first part of La Masia. However, that pleasure soon became unpleasant, and it ended up being one of the hardest seasons of his life.

Romeo has been signed as the “replacement” for Sergio Busquets, who left Barcelona last summer to join Lionel Messi at Inter Miami. However, he failed to live up to the billing, and was very quickly dropped by Xavi Hernandez, who he failed to use much throughout the rest of the campaign.

Speaking at the show L'Eclipsi di 3Cat (via Relief), Romeo has opened up about the difficult mental battles he has faced at Barcelona over the past 12 months.

“The physical aspect was not what I wanted, and the mental aspect, neither, because I did not do as I expected on an individual level. I am someone who demands a lot from myself, and this could also it affected my performance negatively. If I lost a game, I couldn't sleep. I was also a bit obsessed with overthinking things.”

Romeo also opened up on the tag of being Busquets' replacement.

“I value what Busquets did a lot, but I did not come with the intention of replacing him. I asked more of myself than what was asked of me.”

It seems that the 2023-24 season will be Romeo's only one and returned Barcelona, as he has been heavily linked with a return to Girona, which he signed last summer. He should have more prominence in Michel Sanchez's side, if he was a starter nailed down earlier.