Saints boss Puel hails ‘vital cog’ Romeu

Oriol Romeu may not be setting the world alight from his position in the heart of midfield but manager Claude Puel insists he is one of the most important players in the team.

The 25-year-old has featured in every Premier League game since the Frenchman replaced Ronald Koeman in the summer.

Comparisons have been made between Romeu and Puel, who was also a deep-lying midfielder and played for Monaco for 17 years.

But Puel believes Romeu has more strings to his bow, which will make him so important to Southampton this season.

“He’s more technical,” he said.

Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

“I played in front of the defence and I had a good recovery of the ball, but now it’s important in modern football to have a player in this position who is very technical.

“The play for this position, it’s important the player can have a good ability to work the ball and to change and to switch it wide while anticipating the situation.

“It’s important because it’s a part of the team and all the opponents try to make a good pressing, because every ball recovery on this play is dangerous for the team.

“It is important for this player to be a good technical player, to not lose the ball and to start the action with quality.”