After Inter director Piero Ausilio confirmed they ‘expressed our interest’ in Cristian Romero, Roberto De Zerbi warns ‘who is not happy has to leave’ Tottenham Hotspur.
It was known even before the end of last season that Romero was eager to leave Spurs, and that the club was increasingly frustrated with him too.
Although Barcelona were also interested, they have other priorities right now, so Inter are the hot favourites.
Romero talks with Inter confirmed
“There is certainly interest and we expressed our interest to both the player and the club,” Ausilio told Sky Sport Italia of Romero.
“These things take a long time, but there is certainly interest, so we’ll see.”
According to various different Italian reports, the opening proposal will be a loan with obligation to buy for a total fee of €40m.
It would be similar to the one used by Inter to sign Manuel Akanji from Manchester City last year, but Spurs want €50m for Romero.
Tottenham coach De Zerbi helped Inter’s cause by making a statement pushing the Argentina international out of the club.
“I was very clear at the start of my time in Tottenham. I said, who doesn’t want to stay in Tottenham? Who is not happy, is not proud to stay here, has to leave,” De Zerbi told reporters before their first pre-season friendly in New Zealand.
“I want the players to be proud and happy to stay here, to go on the pitch in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with big motivation. Because now in football, if you think also in the World Cup, the motivation makes the difference. The motivation is to be happy to stay in one team.”
This would represent a return to Italian football for Romero, as the 28-year-old first came to Europe for Genoa in 2018.
He then moved on to Juventus, before flourishing with Atalanta, and was sold to Tottenham for €53.8m in 2021.