With La Liga finally about to begin after a long summer, I wanted to commence with what I hope will become a once a week article covering some of our wonderful players playing abroad in Europe. I am open to suggestions on players who will feature in these articles but to start with I will follow Nolito (Benfica), Oriol Romeu (Chelsea), and Bojan Krkic (AS Roma). It is important to note that many of the players that left Barcelona this summer have buy back clauses in their contracts so they could yet return to wear the colors of the Blaugrana.

Nolito (Forward/Winger) – Benfica

This diminutive attacker was with Barcelona since 2008 before rejecting a professional contract and joining S.L. Benfica this summer. Nolito has been prolific since joining the Portuguese side to say the least with five goals in his first five official matches with the club. He helped his new club qualify for the Group Stages of the UEFA Champions League with three goals in their three qualifying games. He is sure to feature against Manchester United when the two teams meet later this fall.

Oriol Romeu (Midfielder) – Chelsea

As the summer is nearing its end, Chelsea are looking decidedly Spanish with Juan Mata and Fernando Torres in attack and now the “Bulldozer” to anchor their midfield, now and in the future. Oriol Romeu is just back from the World Cup in Columbia where he led the Spanish U20 team to the Quarter Finals where La Furia Roja lost to the eventual winners, Brazil. His vision and aggressive pressing in midfield is why Barcelona want to be able to buy him back from Chelsea in the next two years as Guardiola considers him a natural heir to Sergi Busquets. He’s yet to feature for the Blues but look for him to come on in place of John-Obi Mikel in the coming weeks.

Bojan Krkic (Forward) – AS Roma

It’s probably the best thing for the record holder for most goals in the Barcelona FC youth system to get away from the Camp Nou and get some consistent first team football. Luis Enrique knows Bojan and will be eager to help the youngster develop into the star that he could be. The Serie A will not be starting this weekend but Bojan Krkic could be leading the Roma attack with Francesco Totti and Marco Borriello as early as next week.

Written by Barcaloco contributor Caleb Cousens. Follow Caleb on Twitter at @Gaffers_Corner.