Buckle up, y’all — the rumors surrounding the future of Cristian Romero is about to become a SAGA. There’s been tons of smoke, most of it in the unreliable corners of the Spanish football media, that Cuti has been making doe-eyes at clubs in La Liga ahead of a potential summer transfer away from Tottenham Hotspur.
The club that is most closely linked to Romero is Atletico Madrid, and Cuti hasn’t exactly done a lot of work to distance himself from the idea of leaving Spurs. Cuti gave an interview last week and responded to a leading question that said he’d be open to playing in Spain, since that’s the major European league in which he hasn’t played in his career (with Romero notably omitting Ligue 1, whoops).
The latest transfer rumor came in over the weekend with Matteo Moretto writing in Relevo that not only is Atleti interested in Romero, Cuti has already said yes to the idea of playing for Diego Simeone next season. The report suggests that Romero is focused on Tottenham and the Europa League, but will see what happens with contract negotiations and the like at the end of the season.
Now “already said yes” to the idea of playing for Atleti is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Most likely this is Cuti’s agent keeping options open, which is what good agents do — how many times have we seen players agreeing personal terms with clubs only to have deals fall apart over transfer fees? And let’s not pretend that Daniel Levy isn’t going to drive a hard bargain. If we know anything about Levy it’s this — he has a player valuation in mind and will not budge from it. I saw a spurious report (which I won’t link to) that suggested Atleti were hoping to nab Cuti for €35m and [derisive laughter].
All that said, there’s a ton of smoke in the air about Cuti’s future. And I get it — if I’m considered one of the best central defenders in the league and have won a World Cup I’m not sure I’d want to stick around on a team that’s currently 16th in the table either. Cuti’s future might also hinge on whether or not Spurs win the Europa League and qualify for Champions League football next season, and come to think of it that’s probably why he’s so focused on the end of the season at Spurs.
So gird your loins, everyone — no matter what Spurs do against Bodø/Glimt over the next two weeks, these rumors aren’t going away. Might as well get used to the idea.