Long term knee injury confirmed for Oriol Romeu

When Oriol Romeu started limping against Sunderland on Saturday, there was mild concern, but when the pain became so great he had to be withdrawn, there were serious worries over the health of the defensive midfielder. Today, we've had some bad news on that front, with Chelsea's official site confirming he'll miss up to six months with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, thus confirming the rumours that emerged yesterday.

Oriol Romeu underwent anterior cruciate reconstruction surgery and medial meniscus repair yesterday (Monday). He is expected to be out for six months.

The 21-year-old midfielder suffered the knee injury during the first half of the match at Sunderland on Saturday and returned to London for assessment instead of flying to Japan.

Source- Chelsea FC

Whatever you look at it, that's bad news for Chelsea: they lose a highly capable player who provided some good depth in a crucial position. With his keen positional awareness and sublime passing ability, the signs were promising that Romeu could have had a key role in Benitez's plans going forward.

It's bad news for Romeu too, as knee injuries tend to be difficult to recover from and can lead to serious, long-term repercussions. Get well soon, Oriol.

This leaves Chelsea with a real dilemma on the transfer front, as they do have the opportunity to bring in some cover in the upcoming transfer window. They could go for an upgrade in that position with a high profile signing, but that's without mentioning the other two cards on the table - Josh McEachran and Nathaniel Chalobah. With Europa League minutes now also in play, one of the two would be able to get some good first team minutes, and Chelsea really need to take some careful consideration in their next move.