Tottenham Hotspur central defender Cristian Romero isn't quite world class due to his mistakes and dreadful 2025/26 Premier League season, but he is a great center back who has been key to multiple trophies at the international and club level and is coming off a strong World Cup.
So to see him only go for around 40 million euros to Atletico Madrid, which looks like the most likely deal at this point, is wild, especially since Atleti are set to sell the woeful Matteo Ruggeri for about the same money they are going to bring in Romero for.
Throughout the summer transfer window, Romero has not made this transfer saga easy for Tottenham at all. He has pretty much destroyed Spurs leverage over the past few months by not even attempting to help the team during the worst of the Premier League relegation battle, apparently trying to betray them as captain by leaving early, and never once creating public uncertainty around his transfer this summer so that Spurs could at least get a decent fee out of him.
Cristian Romero screwed over Tottenham once more
Romero also had exorbitant wage demands that led Inter Milan to backing out of the deal and Barcelona to show no real interest at all. Atleti are basically bidding against themselves, and they merely waited until the end of the transfer window in August to get the best deal possible on a player they lowballed Spurs for last summer - and now they are going to sign him for even cheaper.
It is a frustrating situation for Tottenham Hotspur to be in, and it is insane to look at the center backs who are worse but went for bigger fees than Cristian Romero. Even Luka Vuskovic, who is coming off just one great season at the top level, will be sold for more money to Brighton than Romero will be sold to a bigger club with more money in Atletico Madrid.
While Romero is not to blame for all of this, it really drives home the fact that making him the captain after Son Heung-min left for MLS was a monumental error, especially since Romero was already publicly saying he dreamed of a La Liga transfer back in the spring of 2025 when Spurs were competing for the Europa League title. But because Romero was the Player of the Tournament and Tottenham won, that was papered over. And Spurs may have also given him the captaincy to appease him after firing Ange Postecoglou for Thomas Frank. Mistakes, mistakes.
Tottenham fans soured on Romero because of how poorly he played and how lazy he looked at the end of the season when Spurs needed him most. It showed his true colors. Maybe other teams saw that, too, when looking at his transfer fee, and while Romero does not necessarily owe Tottenham the favor of a decent transfer fee, you would think that a captain who cares more about the club would have played their cards better to facilitate a favorable move. The only thing Spurs fans will feel for Romero after he goes is bitterness.
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