Barca loan Vermaelen to Roma

Thomas Vermaelen will be hoping to resurrect his career in Italy after Barcelona announced on Monday he had joined Roma on a season-long loan.

The Belgium international has struggled with injuries since his time at Arsenal and was unable to establish himself at the Camp Nou as a result.

Vermaelen managed just one appearances for Barca in his first season after leaving the Gunners in 2014 and he only featured 20 times last term due to more injury problems.

The 30-year-old centre-back regained his fitness in time to represent the Red Devils at Euro 2016, where he played in four of their fives games as they reached the quarter-finals before losing 3-1 to Wales.

His performances during the tournament in France seemed to convince the Giallorossi that the defender is worth the risk and agreed a deal with the Catalans, which includes an option to make his loan permanent at the end of the campaign.

A statement from the Spanish champions read: "FC Barcelona and AS Roma have reached an agreement for the loan of Belgian defender Thomas Vermaelen for the 2016/17 season.

"The Italian club contractually agrees that the participation of the player remains active during the loan. The agreement includes an option for Roma to buy the player at the end of the 2016/17 season."