Tottenham Hotspur are standing their ground amid growing pressure from Atletico Madrid to sell Cristian Romero, with the North London club refusing to entertain anything below a £60 million valuation.
The Telegraph reports that Tottenham are refusing to be bullied into a cut-price sale of their key defender, who has two years left on his contract.
The Argentine defender is considered a leader in the Spurs squad, but his future at the club is far from certain, even though new head coach Thomas Frank wants to count on him.
Romero is due to report back for pre-season training in mid-July. However, his relationship with the club’s hierarchy seems to be at its breaking point.
The 27-year-old is unsettled at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and has repeatedly made it clear he’s not happy with the way the club is run.
Less than an hour after Frank was announced as Tottenham’s new head coach, Romero sent a heartfelt message on social media to Ange Postecoglou, who praised the defender as a “winner”.
He paid tribute to the work of the former head coach and praised him for persevering “despite the many obstacles that always existed and always will exist”.
Romero’s head has been further turned by Atletico’s antics. The Spanish giants have publicly made it clear that they would like to recruit the Spurs star this summer.
Atletico manager Diego Simeone has made no secret of his admiration for Romero. “Do I want Cuti Romero? Of course,” Simeone said. “He’s a great player.”
Spanish reports have also claimed that Simeone has been in regular contact with Romero. The Argentine himself has expressed a desire to play in La Liga at some point in his career.
At the moment, everything points to Romero leaving Spurs this summer. But the North Londoners won’t be rushed into a cut-price deal.
Spurs paid around £44m to sign Romero from Atalanta after an initial loan spell and are keen to make a sizeable profit if the World Cup winner leaves the club this summer.