Daniel Levy has built a reputation for being difficult to negotiate with during his tenure as Tottenham chairman.
Spurs have held several prized assets over the years, and the 62-year-old has always tried to make maximum profit from sales.
Harry Kane eventually secured a £86.4m move to Bayern Munich, but there were several twists in the headline saga.
Now, Levy is ready to repeat the Kane narrative in a transfer tussle that could go on for the rest of the window.
Tottenham and Atletico Madrid apart in valuation
Atletico were linked with a move for Cristian Romero before the 2024/25 campaign had even finished.
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It seemed that the Argentine was keen on the move because of the way he spoke publicly, and there was talk of contact between the two parties.
Spurs’ Europa League triumph could have changed things, with the Lilywhites now a Champions League outfit, with Tottenham wanting £60million for Romero.
Atletico will not pay £70million for the World Cup winner, according to Marca (6 July).
They state that scrapping a few million will be decisive to the transfer going through and have highlighted Romero’s desire to move.
Furthermore, they reference the soap operas in the sales of Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, and Kane, with Tottenham one of the toughest teams to convince when it comes to selling.
With the two clubs seemingly apart in their valuation of the player, there is some work to do.
Levy to reference Atletico spending to receive maximum fee
While Atletico may not want to pay excessively for the 27-year-old, they may be forced to because of past spending.
The La Liga side have paid substantial fees for players before, and Levy would almost certainly reference those deals.
Atletico spent a seismic £113million on Joao Felix in 2019, in what can only be described as a catastrophic flop.
Furthermore, Diego Simeone’s side paid £81.5million to Manchester City for Julian Alvarez last summer.
With these deals in mind, Levy is in no rush to sell Romero below the price he sets.