Oriol Romeu reveals injury blow sustained during Manchester United defeat is 'nothing serious'

Southampton have been handed positive news with regards to the injury suffered by Oriol Romeu during their visit to Manchester United on Friday night (19 August).

The 24-year-old midfielder, who joined Saints from Chelsea last summer in a £5m ($6.5m) deal after two years out on loan with Valencia and Stuttgart, started the 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford, but limped off after just 11 minutes.

He was quickly replaced by Jordy Clasie, who tripped Luke Shaw shortly after half-time to allow talismanic striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic to net his second goal of the night and his fourth in just three appearances from the penalty spot.

The Swede had earlier become the 20th United player to score on his home debut in the Premier League era by soaring above captain Jose Fonte to powerfully head Wayne Rooney's inch-perfect cross past Fraser Forster.

Providing an update on his fitness situation after what seemed a rather innocuous non-contact incident, Romeu posted across his social media accounts: "Sad for the defeat. Nothing serious from my injury. Thanks for your messages and support."

Southampton are still searching for their first win of the new campaign after only scraping a 1-1 draw against 10-man Watford at St Mary's last weekend courtesy of a second-half volley from new signing Nathan Redmond.

The club was subject to yet more managerial upheaval over the summer as Ronald Koeman followed the example of Mauricio Pochettino and departed for Everton, but their second competitive outing under new boss Claude Puel produced a more positive performance that was let down by an obvious lack of cutting edge in the final third.

New signing Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg particularly caught the eye with an assured performance on his first start in English football since a summer move from Bayern Munich.

"We have a lot of regrets, because we had many situations and created some good opportunities, but we didn't take them and score," an upbeat if understandably frustrated Puel told Southampton's official website. "Perhaps in the first 15 minutes it wasn't good, but after I think we played a good game, with good football and good possibilities."

"We played with quality, good control and good passes and had many situations which is positive, but we needed to take one of them, of course. Now we have to correct many details, defensive also. It's difficult to take this first goal, because we have some situations before Manchester United.

"The second goal was also difficult to take just at the start of the second half. It allowed United to play on the counter-attack. We continued to play. It's important now to correct some details, but there were positives for the future. We have to score when we create the chances."