Tottenham Hotspur selling Cristian Romero is the least surprising piece of transfer news anyone will see all summer.
The writing was on the wall when the Spurs captain originally planned to fly home to Argentina during Tottenham's crunch clash to secure survival on the final day of last season, and bridges haven't been mended since.
SportItalia’s Gianluigi Longari has confirmed in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the Argentine is still on Inter Milan's radar, with an agreement reached between the two clubs – for a surprising fee.
Tottenham have agreed £35m fee to sell Cristian Romero
In 2021, Tottenham agreed a £42.5m fee for Atalanta defender Romero, the second-most that the Lilywhites had ever paid for a player behind the £53m spent on Tanguy Ndombele.
Five years later, Romero is a World Cup winner and runner-up, still just 28 years old, the club captain in N17 and with three years left on his contract – yet leaving for €40m, around £35m.
Tottenham have certainly made losses on players before: Ndombele infamously had his contract terminated, Emerson Royal left for half what Spurs paid for him, former record buy Davinson Sanchez left for under £10m, and losses were made on both Emerson Royal and Giovani Lo Celso. But none of them were real successes at Spurs: Dele Alli, Jan Vertonghen, Dele Alli and Hugo Lloris, meanwhile, were all huge hits, but each of them left North London well beyond their peak.
While Romero has had a rough season or two, he's not in either of these camps. Fans would have placed the Argentine, surely, as a sale in the vein of Harry Kane, Kyle Walker, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, or even Brennan Johnson – as a player who gave good service to the club, with plenty more to give at the top level.
Even the sale of Luka Vuskovic this summer to Brighton – £46m, as per the BBC – suggested that Spurs ould recoup what they spent on Romero, even with inflation, as they did with Toby Alderweireld and Christian Eriksen, and almost did with Steven Bergwijn.
Spurs would have liked to define themselves as a club able to hold out for the highest offer under Daniel Levy – making this £7.5m loss on their captain odd to see. Realistically though, the Lilywhites earned a very different reputation under the former chairman, though.
Yes, Spurs held onto several players far too long: the likes of Danny Rose, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen were all replaceable assets who commanded £50m+ at their respective peaks, back in an era where such a fee was seismic.
Manchester City and Liverpool have regularly sold regular starters – think Ferran Torres, Julian Alvarez, Gabriel Jesus, Sadio Mane, Georginio Wijnaldum and Philippe Coutinho – refreshing their squad with the proceeds.
Sure, Spurs may be looking to do something similar with Romero, who clearly isn't a part of the future and may well have checked out.
Accepting a loss on a major first-teamer, with elite clubs wanting to sign him, marks a significant change in approach, though – and a strange thing to see from a club with such a distinct transfer policy over the last decade.