Chelsea on-loan midfielder Oriol Romeu has signed a new three-year deal that will keep him contracted to Jose Mourinho’s side until 2017.
The 22-year-old former Barcelona youth academy player joined Barca as a 13-year-old and played for three season in their B-team before moving to the west Londoners in 2011.
During his first two years with Chelsea Romeu played mainly for the reserves and made 22 appearances for first team between (2011 and 2013), before being sent back to Spain for the 2013/2014 season play on-loan with La Liga side Valencia.
The young Spaniard suffered a somewhat torrid time at Valencia, inflicted with injuries, and he appeared in just 13 of their 38 La Liga fixtures – of which 11 were starts.
Despite spending significant time out of the game last season, Blues boss Mourinho would appear to have confidence in the midfielder’s abilities in order to have granted him a further three years as a Chelsea player.
The penning of the new deal also serves as an indication that Romeu will get his chance to become a Chelsea first team regular in the near future.
As a Spain international, Romeu has featured in the U17, U19, U20, U21 and U23 sides for his national team but has not been called up to represent his country since 2012.