Tottenham center back Cristian Romero may be a vice captain at the club and one of the team's most touted players, but he's also made it clear to the fans than when his team needs him most, his mind is currently occupied elsewhere with his own future.
After stating that he dreams of a move to LaLiga in an interview, third-place Spanish side and regular Champions League knockout club Atletico Madrid, and, now, to make matters worse for Tottenham, there are already rumors that he has given his green light to Atleti for a summer transfer.
In a recent report, GiveMeSport's Ben Jacobs confirms that Romero is "keen" on joining Diego Simeone's side and that the Argentinian manager himself is the driving force behind this transfer pursuit. Romero has reportedly been one of Atleti's top transfer targets for the upcoming summer since March, so Romero's public interview of joining Atletico was likely a big wink to the Rojiblancos to start ramping up the pursuit - and that makes Romero look even worse here.
Atletico Madrid only want to pay 40 million euros for Cristian Romero
While it would seem to be a good thing that Atleti are so interested in signing Romero, Tottenham's goal transfer fee of 60 million euros may not come to fruition. Now that's no surprise since Romero isn't really worth that kind of money due to his inconsistent and aggressive playing style, but, per Jacobs, Atleti are far off from Spurs with a valuation of 40 million euros that they don't want to go past.
There's always room for negotiation, but a gulf of 20 million euros in value is substantial. Tottenham would probably settle for 50 million euros, but they'd like to see other clubs get involved to put pressure on Atletico to raise their bid. Right now, Romero hasn't done Spurs any favors either by publicly saying he dreams of LaLiga and winking so much at Atleti through rumors, and that can only frustrate Tottenham fans even more.