Girona midfielder Oriel Romeu has admitted that it was a look at the bigger picture which led him to leaving Southampton this summer.
Romeu brought an end to a seven-year spell with Southampton earlier this month, leaving for an undisclosed fee to join Girona.
He had been a regular for the Saints over that period after arriving from Chelsea in 2015, making 256 appearances in all competitions for the club including a start in the 4-1 defeat to Tottenham on the opening day of the season.
It is because of those numbers that his exit came as something of a surprise, particularly with the player making it clear he was more than happy at Southampton on several occasions.
The move to Girona, though, provides him with the chance to return to his homeland where he spent the early parts of his career playing for Espanyol and Barcelona’s youth set ups before a move to Chelsea.
And it was that, plus several other factors, that all made him decide now was the right time to leave.
“A lot of pieces have fitted together. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have left Southampton, because I was really good there,” he told El Periodico.
“I’m in a vital stage in which you prioritise other things. You value the whole package: you analyse and say ‘really, what will make us happy?’. It was all too nice not to take advantage of it.
“Now we have a little one and a half year old, and it is also important to be closer to the family, so that he can create his relationships close to home. It’s something that has also weighed heavily and helped make the decision even easier.”
