Tottenham centre-back Cristian Romero is reportedly very open to a risky transfer to bitter north London rivals Arsenal.
The Argentina international has been a key player for Spurs since joining in 2021, having made 156 appearances for the club, but he could now be prepared to destroy his reputation their fans by joining Arsenal.
This rumour has been doing the rounds in the last couple of days, and now the reliable Hand of Arsenal X account has claimed that Romero would be very open to this controversial move…
The expectation is for Arsenal to announce the signing of Bruno G today.
The player has already begun training at Sobha.
The club is still in the market to reinforce. Regardless of if we sign Romero, the player was / is VERY open to joining us.
— HandofArsenal (@HandofArsenal) August 8, 2026
“The club is still in the market to reinforce. Regardless of if we sign Romero, the player was / is VERY open to joining us,” HoA posted.
It will be interesting to see if this comes to anything, but there’s no doubt that the Gunners could really do with moving quickly to sign cover for the injured William Saliba.
Romero, however, should surely stay away from this move, which could come at a huge personal cost.
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Cristian Romero shouldn’t repeat Sol Campbell mistake
Romero might well look at Arsenal and think it would be tempting to join the reigning Premier League champions and get back to playing in the Champions League.
However, the 28-year-old must surely not appreciate quite how fierce the rivalry between Tottenham and Arsenal actually is.
Sol Campbell notably left Spurs on a free transfer to join AFC in 2001, and although he won two Premier League titles there, including as a member of the famous ‘Invincibles’ side, it made his personal life very difficult.
Tottenham fans never forgave Campbell for his betrayal, so much so that the Daily Mirror have quoted former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger as questioning if he would do the deal again.
Arsene Wenger on Sol Campbell signing
“The situation was really stressful for Sol and he told me afterwards how severe it became,” Wenger said.
“He couldn’t go to certain places for dinner or walk freely in London because of the anger of the Tottenham fans. In hindsight, I’m not sure if I would sign him again bearing in mind the difficulties he faced.
“I thought he was capable of facing the adversity. For me, it was easy because everybody was conscious that I had signed a great player. But for him, it was more complicated.”
Winning trophies is one thing, but Romero might not know what he’s letting himself in for if he crosses the divide – he needs to think very hard about whether or not it’s really worth the abuse he’s likely to get for it.