It is some trick Southampton have been performing in recent years, losing key players but improving. They are still at it, as in the summer they sold Victor Wanyama to Tottenham for £11m but now, hey presto, their midfield is sturdy and inventive thanks to a squad player who has been turned into a linchpin. Oriol Romeu was reared at Barcelona, by Pep Guardiola among others, and bought by Chelsea but only now, at Southampton, is he confirming he can thrive at the top.

“I knew I had a chance to step forward and I wanted to be ready for it,” says Romeu of Wanyama’s departure. “I just wanted to be the man who could do the job and prove it to the coach. As your career goes on you have new challenges and opportunities and you have to take them.”

For a while it looked like Romeu would make his breakthrough at Barcelona, whom he joined at 13 in 2004. Chelsea paid £4.35m to bring him to London when he was 19, but ligament injuries and three knee operations impeded his progress, so last year Chelsea sold him to Southampton for £5m. It is now clear Romeu never lost the quality and drive that were cultivated at Barcelona. He still praises the influence of the Catalans’ coaching, especially Guardiola, who ran Barcelona’s first team when Romeu was in the second.

“He was amazing with young players,” says Romeu. “Sometimes he used to spend longer with us than with the senior players. He loved to correct things to make us better. We all learned a lot from him. He loves football, he loves being a coach and that comes out in the results of every team he picks.”

“He gave me a few tips about playing in the middle. Advice about how the body position is very important. And he used to say something that I will always remember: ‘If you want to find somebody short, look long, because then you will see short. If you just look short you won’t see the long pass.’ It’s just small details like that. He knows because he was a very clever player. He will help you.”

Luis Enrique, in charge of the second team back then before graduating to his current position at the helm of Barcelona’s first team, was another major influence. “I learned a lot from him. Not just tactically but also trying to push us until we couldn’t give any more. It was good to have that feeling.

“We all tried to improve every day even when we were winning. We were in the second division in Spain and he wanted to push us to get the best record in our history. Most of us were young players so that was very hard. We had achieved our goal after six months, which was not to get relegated, and after that he said: ‘Keep fighting and let’s see what we can do.’ We finished second in the league. In theory we were not fighting for anything because we couldn’t get promoted but our goal was to get better.”

Southampton hope to demonstrate a similar attitude this season. They will need to as they compete in the Europa League as well as on domestic fronts. Sunday’s match against Burnley is the first of seven in 22 days, with a trip to Internazionale on Thursday before next Sunday’s encounter with Guardiola’s Manchester City.

Oriol Romeu, here getting to grips with Sergio Agüero in 2011, struggled for playing time at Chelsea. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images

“We’ll push and see where we can go,” says Romeu. He knows his manager will make sure of that. Claude Puel can be exceptionally soft spoken – at press conferences he is often inaudible – but Romeu confirms what Southampton’s recent performances have indicated – that the Frenchman has no trouble rallying the team to his cause, which is an adventurous style of dominance. The seemingly mellow Puel showed in the first match of the season, when Southampton fell behind to Watford before drawing 1-1, he can explode when required.

“When he is loud it means there is something wrong,” says Romeu. “When things are not going well he has to shout and he does it. I remember the first half against Watford it wasn’t really good and at half-time he came and he was noisy. We were not playing well and he just wanted us to be braver and to take the responsibility and to be happy out there playing. We were all a bit shy.”

Like Guardiola and Enrique, Puel has a reputation for convincing young players to give full expression to their talent. “Being brave is taking risks sometimes and being ourselves. Sometimes with the fear in our bodies we weren’t doing things that we would do in training. Sometimes when things are not going well you need to keep doing it and believing in yourself.’

Now Southampton are reaping rewards for their faith and finally being able to perform regularly is freeing Romeu to pursue his potential. “I feel that when I’m going on to the pitch I don’t need to prove that I am this player or that player, I just have to prove that I’m myself and I’m going to do my job. Sometimes when you’re younger and still coming up at a new club you need to prove many things. Now, after last year and the beginning of this season, you can just settle down and enjoy it and try to help your team.”