Tottenham have a long offseason ahead of them, because even though Spurs are riding high from winning the Europa League title and qualifying for the Champions League, they will have to figure out how to compete in their Champions League return with a squad that finished a mere 17th in the Premier League last season.
Before all that, Tottenham need to sort out their manager and sporting director situation, but while that is ongoing, Spurs need to think about which key players they want to keep and which players they want to sell in order to sign better players who can help them reach the knockouts of the Champions League next season.
One of the most interesting situations belongs to star center back Cristian Romero, who seemed to be on the outs a few weeks ago. After publicly declaring his interest in heading to LaLiga, Romero was being closely linked with moves to Atletico Madrid and even Real Madrid.
Daniel Levy is stepping it up
Now, though, Tottenham fans are pushing harder for the club to keep Romero after his decisive performances in the Europa League led to both Spurs hoisting the trophy and Romero himself being honored as the official Player of the Tournament.
According to new information from top footballing insider Fabrizio Romano on his YouTube channel, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy will now do his best to keep Romero at Tottenham this summer. While both parties have not started official negotiations on a new contract, Spurs now want to keep Romero more than before because they have secured Champions League football.
The Champions League helps the case for Romero to stay in two ways. Not only does it make it more important for Tottenham to keep a big-game, top-class center back for such an important competition rather than selling him for potentially less than market value, but the Champions League also increases Romero's interest in staying due to the level of competition.
At this point, it's a no-brainer for Tottenham to at least sit at the bargaining table and try to hammer out something with Romero to convince him to stay. And if Romero is still open to leaving, Tottenham can have more leverage with clubs like Atletico Madrid instead of taking obvious lowball offers for a player whose stock is absolutely on the rise after this Europa League tournament.
It still seems about 50/50 for Romero to leave Tottenham this summer, and Levy keeping a key player has to be seen before it is ever believed. But 50/50 is a lot closer than what the odds seemed like for Romero's future with Tottenham just a month ago.