Tottenham Hotspur star center back Cristian Romero is a wanted man. Just a couple of months ago, Tottenham fans were resigned to the thought of losing the 27-year-old central defender to La Liga giants Atletico Madrid, as countryman Diego Simeone was highly keen on bringing the hard-nosed center back to the Spanish capital. And for his part, Romero was telling everyone that he dreamed of joining a club in Spain.
Romero won back Tottenham fans with several heroic performances in elimination games in the knockout stages of the 2024/25 Europa League, including a shutdown performance alongside fellow star center back Micky van de Ven in a 1-0 victory over fellow struggling Premier League side Manchester United in the Final. That sealed Romero's status as the official Player of the Tournament.
It also sealed Romero's value to Tottenham, and even Daniel Levy was shutting down transfer interest in the World Cup and Europa League hero by setting an even richer asking price of 70 million euros. Atleti were already coming nowhere near a reasonable evaluation of Romero months ago, and now that he upped his value with a Europa League title and Player of the Tournament honors, his price definitely went up.
Diego Simeone is beyond determined
Unfortunately for Tottenham fans who thought this meant Romero was guaranteed to stay, even after the firing of Ange Postecoglou (whom the defender had a close relationship with), Atletico Madrid are making their move and evidently pushing even harder to sign Romero.
Per a report from Argentinian outlet DSports, Atleti have submitted an improved offer of 55 million euros plus an additional 10 million euros in add-ons to Tottenham for Romero, and they are now very close to signing the Argentinian star from Spurs since they are now just five million euros away from meeting the valuation that the Premier League powerhouse set for the 27-year-old center back.
While that doesn't mean Romero is guaranteed to leave just yet, it does mean that Atletico Madrid have put a twist in the story and given Spurs supporters new reason to seriously worry about losing Romero, just when it seemed like there was almost no chance of Romero leaving the club after a beautiful end to the 2024/25 campaign - and Levy's reassuring valuation of the player.
Simeone and Atleti have identified Romero as their guy, and it's easy to see why. Atleti have been investing heavily in transfer lately, as evidenced by the coup of Argentinian star Julian Alvarez from Premier League titans Manchester City last summer, and it looks like Romero could be the next domino to fall after all. Stay tuned.