Any Gary Rowett snub puts some pressure on Oxford United transfer decision | OneFootball

Oxford United broke transfer record to sign Romeny, Rowett and fans are yet to be convinced by player

Oxford United's record signing Ole Romeny made his debut as a second half substitute in their 0-0 draw with Stoke City, but the forward still has a lot of work to do in order to justify his price tag.

Oxford splashed the cash to bring the former FC Utrecht player to the Kassam Stadium, but are yet to reveal how much they paid for the Dutch Under-20 International. The BBC believe it to be a club-record deal of around £1.6 million, overtaking Siriki Dembélé who previously held the title of Oxford's most expensive player.

The reaction from the fanbase wasn't what you would typically expect when a club announce a record transfer deal. There was a mixture of excitement, confusion and caution, and there's good reason for this.

Oxford owners seeking fame overseas

United's owners, Erick Thohir and Anindya Bakrie, are from Indonesia, and have made no secret of their desire to use their connections to increase the number of overseas fans, mainly in their home country.

The first example of this was the signing of Marselino Ferdinan, which came with a media storm. When the U's announced the signing of the youngster, their official Instagram account went from 80,000 followers to over 200,000 in a matter of days, due to the popularity that Ferdinan has within Indonesia.

His announcement video currently has 800,000 likes. To put that into perspective, the signing before that was Dane Scarlett on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, with 3,000 likes. Scarlett comes from one of the biggest clubs in the world, and is an extremely exciting talent with Premier League and Europa League appearances to his name at the age of just 20, yet the engagement of fans for Ferdinan dwarfs that of Scarlett.

Media attention aside, Ferdinan is yet to make his debut for the first team. He has shown signs of promise in games with the Under-21s, and has trained with the first team and even featured on the bench once or twice. But clearly, neither Des Buckingham nor Rowett have seen enough to give him his debut yet.

This isn't that alarming considering his age, and the fact that it wasn't an expensive signing. But the worry is that United fans may see somewhat of a repeat with Romeny, who the club spent huge money on.

Huge pressure on Romeny to be a success

Dembélé was the club's record signing before Romeny, and has been one of United's most exciting players this season. Despite picking up an injury which kept him out for 10 matches, the former Birmingham City player has been a big part of the team this season.

If he is the benchmark for what you expect from a record signing, then Romeny has to make sure he is at his best.

It wouldn't look too good from the outside if Romeny ends up under-performing, and seems like a waste of good money. United are in a position where they can't afford to recruit poorly. With clubs having squads eight times the value of theirs, every signing counts.

It's very clear that Romeny wasn't signed because of Rowett. And, in fact, it seems like no matter who United appointed as manager after Buckingham, Romeny was going to join the club. The forward has declared for the Indonesian national team courtesy of his maternal grandmother.

As quoted by the Oxford Mail when he signed, Romeny said: "I know Erick (Thohir). I met him in Indonesia and talked with him about it. He had great stories, and I just followed the team, and I’m now really excited to play for the fans and meet the guys. I’m really excited."

United's head of recruitment Ed Waldron also said: "Following Ole’s decision to represent Indonesia in November, the club’s connections allowed us to move quickly to ensure we could bring him in at the earliest possible opportunity and give him the best chance of success this season."

The club's desire to bring Romeny to the club despite the choice of manager presents a potential issue. There is no guarantee that the forward will fit into Rowett's plans. He might not be the profile of player that Rowett thinks will work with this team. We've already seen several players leave since the new boss took over.

Scarlett, who seemed to be doing well despite limited game time at the club, has gone back to Spurs. Louie Sibley, who seemed to be a really exciting talent when he was signed over the summer, has been loaned out to Rotherham United in League One. It also looks like Owen Dale and Josh McEachran are out of favour after missing out on several squads with both yet to play under Rowett.

The new manager clearly wants a certain type of player, and who knows yet whether Romeny will fit into that? The owners will certainly be keen to see the 24-year-old play, but Rowett won't play him simply to please his bosses.

Romeny made his debut against Stoke City

Fans got their first glimpse of Romeny on Saturday, when he came on from the bench in the 79th minute.

There wasn't too much to judge him on, apart from one chance he manufactured for himself after putting pressure on the keeper in the corner. Romeny stole the ball in the corner and raced towards an empty net. The forward hit the bar from close range, with a defender running back to make a challenge.

If you were being critical of Romeny, you would suggest it's an easy chance that he's missed. If you were being kind, you'd argue that the defender running back did enough to close the angle and put Romeny off. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Romeny had a decent start to the season with FC Utrecht, but nothing that stands out above decent. He certainly will play a bigger part in the rest of the season than Ferdinan, but there's no guarantee we will see him start a game any time soon for Rowett, which might sound odd considering his 'most expensive player ever' title.