Oriol Romeu, the footballer who reads Schopenhauer and writes books

Oriol Romeu Vidal (Ulldecona, 1991)about to turn 32, is one of the best professionals that can be hired at the moment and not only, no, because of his wonderful way of playing football (in the Premier was listed as a ‘elite thief’for the many recoveries he achieved) but for his exquisite and meticulous way of behaving as a professional, for his concerns, not so much intellectual as formative, and, also, for his clean, complicit and affectionate way of facing life.

Until very recently, Romeu was afraid to say that he read and that he read a lot. And all. I don’t even tell them anymore, tell them that he has written a wonderful book. He was shy about saying that he wanted to study and learn as many languages ​​as possible, man, of course, not perfectly. He was shy about explaining how many people he helped and how many solidarity movements he was involved in.

a wonderful book

And it is not that now he is willing to explain everything but, at least, in certain forums he does say that he loves having discovered the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (“Yes, a great pessimist & rdquor;) and, even, he remembers having written a book, “almost a diary & rdquor;, with a prologue by his friend Juan killtitled (the book, not the foreword) “An unforgettable season. The inner journey of a footballer & rdquor; (in Catalan), where he tells everything that happened to him (and more) in the 2020-21 campaign.

The book, as I tell you, is delicious and very, very, pleasant from a personal, human and soccer point of view. Well, the book is like Oriol Romeu, natural, simple, direct, (almost) biographical. Oriol is the first man who had hair “and a lot & rdquor; and he decided to be bald. He once told my friend Ricardo Rosety (bald) on his Podcast ‘ElPelao’with all the pride that someone who has hair can be capable of and decides that he wants to be bald.

“We were children, somewhat young, five real friends, well, so real that, at 30, we are still together and it was the typical phrase of “what are there no eggs & rdquor ;. And yes there were, yes. We took the razors from one of our dogs and shaved our heads, the five of us. And until today. I never left my hair again, it is very comfortable. I love it! How I love the phrase that I heard him say one day Iñaki Zubizarreta that “God made a few perfect heads and put hair on the others.” We bald people are usually very good people, because our starting point is that we accept ourselves as we are: bald,” Romeu commented on that recording.

I don’t know if Barça and, especially, Xavi Hernandez either mateu alemany Of course I do, man! they know that they have hired a guy who has football on his mind, who is convinced that he will be a coach (or will try to) and who spends the day, his matches and those of others, watching them repeated while on his knees he has a notebook where he takes notes. And, not only that, the next day, if he has the opportunity (and he always does), he corners his coach or assistant and makes his personal reflection on how it was and what happened in the game. “And, almost always, they treat me wonderfully and, almost always, what I tell them matches what they think.”

Romeu, who is a true sponge at the service of his personal improvement and contribution to the improvement of the team, has had a lot of coaches in his life. Luis Enrique, guardiola, Villa-Boas, koeman, Benitez, Lopetegui, Mourinho…”You learn from everyone and they all have their systems and, especially, their way of communicating with the footballers. There are those with a more or less heavy hand and there are those who trust the footballer, give him freedom and end up getting, perhaps, better performance. All systems are good if they are executed well.” Romeu acknowledges that Luis Enrique marked him a lot “because everything in him were teachings, since with him I went from the Barça academy to professional football& rdquor ;.

The new ‘Busi’

In the very pleasant chat with Rosety a couple of years ago, Romeu regretted, as he must have done countless times with a small mouth, never complaining or complaining about anything, since he feels extremely proud of his sports career, not having been able to demonstrate at Barça that he could, in effect, perform the functions of Sergio Busquets for which he was trained at La Masia. “Yes, I do remember that with that habit of immediately labeling everyone, they labeled me the ‘new Busquets’. And I was in the subsidiary, in the under-19 and under-21 teams, I had hopes and illusions of reaching the first team and, yes, I saw myself capable of playing ‘Busi’ football, but, in the end, they decided to bet on Mascherano, whom they signed from Liverpool& rdquor ;.

Romeu has never taken anything as a failure, not even when he hasn’t been given the opportunity to show that he was fit for the position, whatever it was. “When they have not believed in me because, perhaps, they did not see that he could do what they needed, I have tried to show them that they were wrong. It was a way to motivate myself, even if it meant going somewhere else. The coaches are the first to want to win and, if they don’t put you on, it’s because they don’t see in you what they think they need.”

Romeu say that it is more to do than to say. “I am not very much in favor of being an example of anything. We are footballers and they should judge us for our football, not because we are models of anything. Man, it is evident that young people notice us, but we are not the ones who have to make them perfect people. The other day I listened to Marc Gasol tell a similar version and I loved it& rdquor ;.

The new Barça midfielder has been deleted from social networks for a long time. Well, not all of them, but the world that generates too much useless noise. “It is one of the best decisions I have made in my life: disconnect from the networks and connect with the closest, closest people, with the people who need you or who you love & rdquor ;.

Romeu is trying to learn Japanese. In two or three years, when he sees his sports career decline, instead of going to Saudi Arabia, Taste either MiamiHe wants to go play Japan. “I love Japan, I love its people, I love how the Japanese are, their culture, the way they behave, I think it is a wonderful country and people. Yes, yes, I will end my days as a footballer in Japan.”

This gentleman from Ulldecona usually gives talks to the youngest at schools, institutes and soccer youth academies. “I don’t give lessons about anything, I just try to share my experiences. The first thing I tell them is to enjoy the moment they are living, at home, at school and in football. The second, that they must go to the top in everything, but thinking about preparing a ‘plan B’. I’m sorry, but I don’t believe in that if you work hard, hard, very hard, you will fulfill your dreams. In any elite sport there are very few, very few, chosen and I think it is not legal, correct, for children to believe that everything is based on working hard and that they will succeed. The important thing, I insist, is that, now, they enjoy, and a lot, what they have.”

It is vital to take care of yourself

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I repeat, at Barça they know everything, yes, but I don’t know if they will know that they have just put a footballer in their dressing room, a thirty-year-old, very, very cultivated, both personally and football wise. Someone, for example, who fully agrees that the football calendar is crazy, yes, but also someone who points out footballers who don’t take care of themselves as they should.

“Playing every three days is crazy, yes, but I’m afraid that some of the injuries that footballers suffer is because we don’t take enough care of ourselves. We are at the club, in our facilities, four hours a day, we have breakfast and lunch there, we take care of ourselves and they take care of us, but we spend the other 20 hours at home and if, when we arrive, we order some pizzas, we make a serious mistake. Food, rest, habits…are vital and we don’t always comply with them”.