Atlético de Madrid have returned for Cristian “Cuti” Romero and are preparing a new offensive to give Diego Simeone his top defensive target.
Last spring, Simeone requested his compatriot Romero’s signing as he sought to add quality and leadership to his back line. However, negotiations between Atlético and Tottenham Hotspur never went anywhere: Spurs set an €80 million asking price for Romero, and Atlético abandoned the idea of signing him in the second week of July.
Thirteen months later — and five
months after seeing him up close in a Champions League knockout tie — Atleti are preparing a €30 million offer to sign Romero from Spurs, who now are desperate to move on from one another.
Spurs have accepted a €40 million offer for Romero from Inter Milan, which has made the most progress toward signing the star center-back in recent weeks. But Romero last year declared that his goal was to play in Spain when he left Spurs — and as such, he has been waiting “impatiently” for Atlético to enter the bidding.
Atleti are close to finalizing transfers for Matteo Ruggeri and Romero’s Argentina teammate Nahuel Molina. According to Isaac Suárez in Marca, those outgoing transfers (as well as Thiago Almada’s imminent exit) will clear enough space on the wage bill to pay Romero’s salary; Inter have struggled to finalize departures and cannot meet those net salary demands of around €8 million as yet.
Knowing that Spurs would sell their captain for €40 million, Mateu Alemany is hoping to close a deal in the €35 million range for Romero, who starred again at the World Cup this summer and helped Argentina reach a second successive final.
There are drawbacks to signing Romero. He suffered a number of injuries over his five seasons in North London, and he served multiple suspensions last season due to red and yellow card accumulation. Some fans are hesitant if not reluctant to add another Argentina international to the team, especially amid the supporters’ exhaustion with Julián Alvarez. I get all that. Really, I do.
But Cuti Romero is one of the best center-backs in the world. Inter, FC Barcelona and Manchester United all have explored signing him in recent months, but he is a perfect stylistic fit for Simeone’s Atlético. An aggressive, physically dominant central defender with unique ball-playing and tempo-setting ability, Romero’s arrival would coincide with a dramatic leap in defensive quality for a back line that shipped an unacceptable 81 goals across four competitions in 2025/26.
Romero would form an intriguing central defense trio with Dávid Hancko and Marc Pubill, who can slide over to left-back and right-back respectively based on in-game context. Atlético would be thin at left-back if Hancko serves simultaneously as a starter in central defense and as Alejandro Grimaldo’s deputy; the club reportedly does not plan to recruit another left-back this summer, which inherently is a risky if not reckless strategy.
But such is Atleti’s need to acquire pure defensive talent. And in this price range, Romero is about as good as it gets.
