Southampton Opinion: Saints should look at Valentin Rongier as an upgrade on Oriol Romeu

According to claims from French outlet Le Quotidien du Foot, Southampton and Aston Villa are interested in signing Nantes midfielder Valentin Rongier in the summer transfer window.

The same report claims that the 24-year-old, who is currently Nantes’ designated club-captain, should be available for around €15 million.

Le Foot also understands that Rongier is likely to be a man in demand this summer, with reports claiming that the 24-year-old has been lined up by Lyon as a replacement for Tanguy Ndombele.

Rongier contributed with 4 goals and 5 assists in 36 appearances in Ligue 1 to guide Nantes to a 12th-place finish in the French top-flight this past season. A youth product of Nantes, Rongier has been with his boyhood club for his entire career so far, having made his Ligue 1 bow back in the 2014-15 season.

The 24-year-old has registered a total of 132 appearances for the Les Canaries in all competitions till date, accumulating 10 goals and 12 assists, numbers which are quite impressive given that he has been used in a variety of midfield roles over the course of his career.

Essentially a central midfielder by trade, Rongier has the versatility to operate in central, defensive and attacking roles in the middle of the park. However, he is at his best when deployed in a central box-to-box role in the midfield as a withdrawn playmaker, which perfectly complements his tenacious and tough-tackling style of play.

Blessed with an excellent range of passing and a good understanding of the game, Rongier not only has the ability to dictate the tempo of the game but he also holds things together and adds stability to the midfield with his tactical maturity and uncompromised work-rate.

The 24-year-old is adept at moving the ball around fluently in the middle of the park, whilst also possessing the vision and the speed of thought to create goalscoring chances with defence-splitting key passes.  

Strong on the tackle and quick across the ground, he is very much adept at breaking up the play with crucial interventions, whilst his set-piece ability makes him a more complete midfield package.

Rongier averaged 53.2 passes per game at an accuracy rate of 82.7, including 1.1 crosses, 3.3 successful long balls, 2.4 key passes and 2.4 tackles, figures which are certainly eye-watering for a central midfielder.

To put things into perspective, Rongier would be an ideal signing for both the aforementioned Premier League clubs. While newly-promoted outfit Aston Villa could possibly look at him as an upgrade on the likes of Conor Hourihane and John McGinn, the 24-year-old would also increase competition for places in the midfield at St.Mary’s.

However, the Saints would bag a massive coup if they manage to beat off competition for the highly-rated French midfield maestro this summer.

Southampton endured a largely lacklustre campaign in the Premier League last term but the Saints showed some signs of promise under Ralph Hasenhuttl, with the Austrian playing a key role in the club’s march to safety in the top-flight.

However, it was pretty apparent last season that the manager lacked the personnel to implement his philosophy and new signings will need to come through the door this summer if the Saints are really serious about challenging for a top-ten finish next term.

While reinforcements in the attack and at wing-back should be high on Hasenhuttl’s recruitment list, Southampton can certainly do with a bit more competition for places in the midfield. The likes of James Ward-Prowse and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg were amongst the standout performers at the club this past season but Southampton need to bring in an upgrade on Oriol Romeu.

Romeu was largely inconsistent for the Saints in the Premier League last season and someone like Valentin Rongier could prove to be an upgrade on the former Chelsea man. He might take a bit of time to get to grips with the English game but he is only 24 and one would expect him to make the step up to the Premier League in due course of time.

Moreover, the Frenchman is a lot more versatile and dynamic as compared to Romeu and his presence would provide Southampton with that little bit extra in terms of creativity and discipline in the midfield.

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Southampton need more competition for places in the middle of the park to keep their existing midfielders on their toes and the acquisition of Rongier would certainly add much-needed depth in a key area of the pitch for the Saints.