USA tour review: 3 Barcelona players who exceeded expectations

Barcelona’s tour of the USA has come to an end, now it’s time to unravel what we witnessed over the three games on US soil. Which players helped their first-team cause with their performances? Who hurt their stock? We’re going to take a look at both, starting today with the three players who were really impressive.

Unfortunately, we were robbed of one game due to the viral issue in the Barca squad that caused the cancellation of the Juventus game, but we do have three games to base this assessment.

You won’t see names like Alejandro Balde or Frenkie de Jong on this list, we already know how good they are. We’re talking about players who surprised or who exceeded our expectations.

Starting with…

Oriol Romeu – Defensive Midfielder

I didn’t rate Romeu’s first performance very highly, in the game against Arsenal I thought he was too passive and the game passed him by. Against Real Madrid and AC Milan, he was the focal point in that midfield when it came to dictating the tempo and ball distribution.

The trial of the double-pivot with Frenkie de Jong looked to be successful with the reliability of Romeu allowing the Dutch midfielder to roam, and De Jong is at his best when he can transition defence into attack, we saw that countless times with balls through the lines.

Romeu showed his defensive capabilities by tracking runners, breaking up play and making those simple passes to keep the ball moving. He also showed that he’s a man aware of his own limitations, often leaving it to the more creative members of midfield to make those cutting passes, guys like De Jong and Pedri.

Expecting him to be Sergio Busquets isn’t fair, but he doesn’t need to be Busquets, he just needs to do the job outlined by Xavi. That job seems to be pretty clear from the pre-season, break up play and keep the ball moving while offering cover for the defensive pair. Romeu will absolutely do that.