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First let me preface this post. Sport is to Barcelona what Marca is to Real Madrid. They notoriously put a pro Barca slant on news and are known to outright invent stories. They are also not notoriously trustworthy when they provide quotes, as they'll take sentences out of context and often change the wording slightly to give the desired effect to their readers. That said, Sport had some quotes from Chelsea midfielder Oriol Romeu this morning. Here's what they attributed to him:
If Tito Vilanova wants me there, I would talk to him and discuss it with him. If they want me to enjoy my football and show some confidence in me, then onwards and upwards. Returning to Barcelona is an option but it depends on many things, because I want to play. I’ve always felt like a big Barcelona supporter, I am very grateful to FC Barcelona and it’s thanks to them that I am where I am. I wanted to play more and Chelsea showed confidence in me, but if FC Barcelona want you to play, well…
I don't doubt for a second that Sport has taken some liberties with the last part of that quote, as frankly that very much fits their history with such things. That said, there was one other part of the story that caught my eye:
They have the option to buy me back, I left knowing I had that option, and if they still have confidence in me, as they showed by leaving the option open, then they should let me know.
Once again, I'm sure some liberties were taken because Sport are an absolute garbage publication. With that in mind, they seem to have Romeu implying that the buyback we have such conflicting reports on is far more simple than AVB lead us to believe. While this may again be a case of Sport taking liberties, AVB didn't exactly make himself into the most believable of characters either.
At this point it's nearly impossible to say how the buyout actually works, but it seems pretty clear that Sport is going to start trying to turn Romeu's head. Frankly, Chelsea can't lose in all of this though. They either keep a talented young midfielder that can contribute to the first team, or they make a tidy profit for playing a very useful player last season. All we can really do on this one is wait it out and see, but if any sort of trustworthy source (and Sport is not) comes out with more details we'll make sure you know.