Oriol Romeu has admitted he did not expect to seal a return to Barcelona this summer.
The 31-year-old La Masia graduate secured an emotional move back to Camp Nou 12 years after he left the club for Chelsea in 2011, helping to fill the void left behind by Sergio Busquets' departure to Inter Miami.
It's the culmination of a whirlwind 12 months which saw Romeu return to La Liga with Girona and help form one of the most exciting teams in Spanish football, with Barcelona wasting little time in bringing him in at Xavi's request.
"The value of returning to Barça is immense," Romeu told club media. "Wearing this shirt again means a lot.
"Now I have the challenge of helping the team have a great year, adapting as quickly as possible to everything the coach asks of me and starting to give a great performance from the first minute.
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"Honestly, I didn't imagine returning [to Barcelona]. When you're focused on competing and performing at the highest level during the season, you don't consider what could happen in the future. Now, last season, at Girona, the entire squad maintained a great level and that made me feel very comfortable.
"All this has allowed me to take that big step that means so much to me, that makes me so excited and that I face as a magnificent challenge."
Romeu added: "When you leave Barça, you feel sad because somehow the door to your dream of making it to the first team closes. However, at the same time, new challenges and new hopes open up for you. Somehow you have to survive and adapt to a new reality, culture or even country. A footballer's career goes around and you learn from different coaches, teammates and leagues."
Filling the hole left behind by Busquets is an unenviable task and Romeu admitted he is up for what is an enormous challenge.
"I can learn many things from Busquets, practically everything he did on the pitch," he said. "His ability to give calm and balance to the team is admirable. Also, the perseverance and high performance that he showed in all duels, I barely remember a bad game from Busquets.
"He is an example to follow, all of us players who like the pivot position have had him as a reference. Returning to the club and filling this position in the best possible way is a great challenge."
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This article was originally published on 90min as Oriol Romeu admits surprise towards Barcelona return.
