Girona have been left frustrated by Barcelona manager Xavi's contact with midfielder Oriol Romeu.

Barcelona are on the hunt for a new defensive midfielder this summer following the departure of Sergio Busquets and are set to miss out on key target Marcelo Brozovic, who is close to swapping Inter for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.

Reports in Spain have named 31-year-old Romeu, a La Masia graduate, as a possible target for Xavi and have even gone as far as to claim the Barcelona boss has personally reached out to Romeu about a summer return to Camp Nou.

This contact from Xavi has upset those in charge at Girona, who released a short statement to SPORT urging the Barcelona boss to play by the rules.

"We know that Xavi has called our player and Oriol Romeu is not free, he has a contract with Girona until 2025, so we say that this cannot be done," the statement read.

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Romeu's contract with Girona is understood to contain a release clause of under €10m which, though affordable, could still be problematic for a Barcelona side keen to limit their spending while they get their finances back under control.

The 31-year-old joined Barcelona's academy in 2004 and made two appearances for the first team during the 2010/11 campaign, before being snapped up by Chelsea in 2011.

Various loans and a permanent switch to Southampton followed, with Romeu landing back in Spain with Girona last summer. The veteran was one of the top performers in Michel's side, attracting plenty of praise for playing some sensational football as Girona finished tenth in La Liga in their first season back in the top flight.

Romeu has played his way on to Barcelona's radar and represents a cheaper alternative to Real Sociedad starlet Martin Zubimendi, whose release clause sits at €60m.

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This article was originally published on 90min as Girona left angered by Barcelona's Oriol Romeu approach.