Tottenham open Romero talks as Arsenal transfer verdict falls

7 Aug 2026 13:01 BST | 4 min read

Cristian Romero, Tottenham, 2025/26 — © IMAGO

FT Desk

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Cristian Romero's next destination will likely be Atletico Madrid as the Spanish giants have officially opened talks with Tottenham over a summer transfer for the centre-back.

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The Argentine is currently the club captain at Tottenham but seemed destined to leave in the summer transfer window after his relationship with the fans deteriorated last season. Spurs were awful on the pitch and remarkably found themselves in a relegation battle towards the end of the campaign, while Romero risked the wrath of the supporters by visiting his former club Belgrano while out injured.

A knee injury meant he could not feature in a key fixture against Everton, so he made the trip home to Argentina instead of being among his team-mates. After the negative PR, he quickly hopped on a plane back to London to be in attendance for the Everton game.

Still, the damage was done and it appears his time at Spurs has come to an end.

Current ETV

Cristian Romero

D (C)

Tottenham

Cristian Romero

D (C)

Tottenham

ETV Range

€42.1M - €51.4M

Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter, and even Arsenal have been linked with a summer swoop.

Fabrizio Romano previously confirmed that Arsenal were indeed looking at a deal, but that Spurs had no intention of doing business with their eternal rivals. The situation echoed the infamous Bosman transfer of Sol Campbell, who was labelled as "Judas" when he swapped North London clubs in 2001.

“Arsenal are expected to sign a centre-back. That's one of their next priorities, while they are also assessing the winger position. Bruno Guimaraes is now official,” Romano said on his YouTube channel.

“Arsenal spoke with Cristian Romero's representatives and asked for information about the situation. The problem is the relationship between Arsenal and Tottenham, which obviously makes any deal extremely difficult.

“It's much easier for Tottenham to negotiate with Atletico Madrid. My understanding is that Atletico are now the clear favourites to sign Romero.

“The player is negotiating with Atletico Madrid and the clubs are also in discussions.

“Inter already reached an agreement with Tottenham some time ago, but they cannot move forward unless Benjamin Pavard leaves. They also still need to agree personal terms with Romero, so everything depends on outgoing transfers.

“Arsenal made enquiries, but Tottenham do not want to sell to Arsenal. It would take a historic decision for Tottenham to approve that move.

“I still expect Arsenal to sign a centre-back. Another player they appreciate is Ezri Konsa at Aston Villa, so that's another name to watch closely over the coming weeks.”

Atletico now in talks

Ben Jacobs now reports that Atletico have opened official talks with Tottenham, who are willing to sell their captain for €40 million.

Inter previously agreed terms on a deal with Spurs earlier in the summer, but it is believed that no agreement could be made on personal terms with Romero.

The update surrounding Romero comes the same week as it was reported that Micky van de Ven is set to sign a new deal with the club, while Jan Paul van Hecke has joined from Brighton for €60m and Marcos Senesi was acquired on a free transfer from Bournemouth.

Kevin Danso is also still around, so Spurs would be well-stocked at centre-back even if Romero were to depart.