Tottenham Hotspur star center back Cristian Romero put himself back under the microscope with a poor performance on Sunday, and his lack of effort on the second goal Nottingham Forest scored in the 3-0 blowout got a lot of fans talking.
It didn't help that a report from MARCA surfaced that Romero may have already had a foot out the door last summer with a 60 million euro release clause in his contract that would allow him to join Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, or Real Madrid. The clause was reportedly inserted into his contract as part of the renewal, as Romero had serious interest from La Liga's giants and seemed to be uncertain about his Spurs future, especially after the firing of Ange Postecoglou.
But Romero stayed and has remained at Tottenham, though if they get relegated, it sounds like he could easily bolt from Spurs, especially if this release clause were to be valid at all in the summer 2026 transfer window.
There is no Cristian Romero clause
Thankfully for Tottenham Hotspur supporters, that does not appear to be the case. According to a report from Fabrizio Romano on his YouTube channel, there was indeed a gentleman's agreement between the club and Cristian Romero last summer. Basically, if a top La Liga club approached Spurs with a good offer, they would consider letting him go. But Romano says there is no actual release clause or anything official on paper, it was all just a verbal agreement between Daniel Levy when he was CEO and Romero. But now that Levy is gone, no such agreement apparently exists.
So for Tottenham fans worried that the club could be pushed into losing Romero no matter what, they can rest assure that there is no clause. Though if Spurs were to be relegated, Tottenham may be forced to lose Romero to a top Spanish side like Real Madrid for even less than 60 million euros anyway. But if they stay up, at least they have room to negotiate or don't have anything tying him to a transfer on paper.
Tottenham fans were initially skeptical of a MARCA report about a clause anyway, so Romano's confirmation that there is no clause on paper comes as no surprise. That said, if Romero wants to push his way out the door this summer, some fans may not mind Spurs letting him go. He's had a pretty poor second half of the season, and at 27, he isn't part of the team's true long term plans if his heart isn't in it anymore.