GironaOriol Romeu is a different footballer. “In the same percentage, yes, I am out of the cliché, but I have met many curious footballers, eager to wear routine things and make them normal. There are many people who behave like me. We have the ability to play football, but we are also many other things”, confessed the Girona midfielder in a recent interview with Catalonia Radio. This Saturday, and once he completes his suspension, he will return to ownership of Míchel’s team in Sevilla’s visit to Montilivi (4:15 p.m., Movistar LaLiga).
“When I see him play, I recognize the same kid who distributed wafers when he was seven”, Albert Arnau, one of his best friends, tells ARA, between laughs. “For us, he is one more of the gang. He is a very normal person, with a calm character and firm in his convictions, who fights for them. He gets involved in what he does, we see it in his day to day. He always adds up and tries to make everyone feel at ease.” From a young age, in Ulldecona, Romeu “never stood still and on the grass he took on responsibilities”. “He has not altered his essence, he is doing the same as he has always done: the difference is that now he is doing it at a high level”, he adds who has shared many experiences with the Girona footballer, and who explains how he feels in Montilivi: “He is very happy. Like every small club, it is homely and familiar, and fits its characteristics. The game is rolling and he is bringing positive things to it. And there is the factor of the climate and life beyond the dressing room: in England it always rained and he did little, here he relates more and shares a team with Aleix Garcia, who is also from Ulldecona and they are good friends”.
A lover of books, Romeo’s interest in writing led him to become an author. “Between us we exchange and have conversations regarding the philosophy of life and ways of thinking. And so we created a small book club”, says Arnau. His book is titled An unforgettable season. The inner journey of a footballer, and he strips down to explain the 20-21 course, childhood memories, how he organizes himself in day-to-day life, how he copes with injuries and how he experienced the birth of his first child. “When you are a father, priorities change. Being one was key to making the decision to return to Catalonia, I wanted the child to be close to its origins”, says Arnau, who adds that the ex-Barça, Chelsea, Valencia, Stuttgart and Southampton “has a very favorable environment, which helps him to be what he is, curious and hardworking”. “I think if he wasn’t a footballer he would have a good job”, he says.
Romeu, who whenever he could, went to see his friend playing with Tortosa in the Primera Catalana, highlights books that reinforce the mentality, to be able to manage in the best possible way the situations he has to experience, including those on the field of play. “On the field you have to know how to accept the fact of losing a ball or conceding a goal. Sitting down in front of a piece of paper, coming to a conclusion and developing it in a way that is understandable is a time when you have to be focused, free from distractions, and find a solution. In football it is the same, they are very similar sensations, they are related”.
Reflections that do not go unnoticed
In the interview with Catalunya Ràdio, Romeu also explains the shock of earning so much money at such a young age. “I left for Chelsea at 19 years old, already earning a very significant amount of money, and it makes you feel that no matter what you spend, you will never reach zero. Because you earn so much money that you can’t spend everything you’re earning every month.” From the stage to the Premier, Arnau remembers the escapades that the group of friends used to have at Christmas and New Year’s. “We always went to see him, we are very close. His house was our hotel. We took advantage of it to follow Boxing Day and a couple of other games, and when we got together in the evenings we would cuddle on the sofa and chat about how it had gone. All that nourished us a lot”.
Romeu’s media explosion has grown since his arrival in Girona. “We have noticed, yes. And I am very surprised, because even though he has a recognized career, many are discovering him this year”, concludes Arnau regarding a footballer whose reflections do not go unnoticed: “Why did he buy clothes that he had never worn and neither did I did you like And you apply this to other things and other ways of behaving, of wanting to appear according to what status or social situations you don’t feel identified with either.”
