Southampton boss Ronald Koeman has backed Oriol Romeu to revive his career after joining the Saints from Chelsea.

The Spanish midfielder spent last season on loan at Stuttgart and 2013/14 at Valencia, who Koeman briefly managed - but it was at Barcelona, another of the Southampton manager's former clubs, where Romeu came to his attention.

"[Romeu's] 23 years old, played already in the Premier League, had a good season in Stuttgart last year and he makes the team stronger," said Koeman. "He's a very good player.

"It's not easy to be a player in the first XI of Chelsea because they have so many good players and for young players it's difficult. It's always up to the manager, the confidence of the player.

"I think it's the right moment for the player to make this move to Southampton because he will play more for Southampton than for Chelsea.

"It's a good feeling and he showed already his performance today [in training] and he's hungry to play and to be part of Southampton.

"I know the player already from the academy of Barcelona and I knew about his situation because I know his agent.

"In our philosophy and how we like to play football it's a midfield player who involves perfectly in our team."