Manchester United were linked with Cristian Romero yesterday. The potential bid for the Tottenham and Argentina center back felt quite out of character given everything that had been reported previously about United’s window, and reports quickly emerged distancing the club from the link made initially by Gaston Edul.
Here’s why the link makes very little sense regardless of veracity.
Not a profile fit
The club may still be fluctuating in terms of the type of player it targets each summer, with very mixed results considering
the 2024 and 2025 transfer windows, but what we can infer from the approach is this:
Manchester United are not looking to bring in high-earners late in their career anymore.
From the very first days of INEOS leadership in the decision-making roles, United looked to offload some of its top earners. Raphael Varane was released in 2024, Marcus Rashford is still being pushed off the books, and Casemiro is just now leaving after facing disrespect publicly from Jim Ratcliffe over the cost of doing business for him.
In the case of Case and Varane, both players were on the other end of 30 and commanded massive wages after leaving Real Madrid. Rashford had recently signed a contract extension the year before, offered before the arrival of INEOS.
Romero wouldn’t quite be on Real Madrid-type wages, but his experience and accolades would certainly command something towards the top end of what United players make. Paying that for a 28-year-old doesn’t make a lot of sense practically and does not fit the new standard the club is trying to set.
Availability
Romero has played more than 30 league matches in his career just three times. Last year he missed just over half the campaign for Tottenham, making 26 appearances in all competitions, and this year managed just 23 league appearances and 32 in all comps.
On top of injury issues, the 28-year-old has a red card in all but three of his professional seasons. He has four since joining Tottenham in 2021. He had two this past season.
While United have had their own issues with availability at center back, they’ve managed to invest enough that it didn’t become too problematic this season. Matthijs De Ligt is en route to recover from a back injury sometime early in the 2026/27 campaign and Lisandro Martinez made his own return to action late in the year after another injury spell. Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven both proved capable of filling in and Harry Maguire continued his good return to form in defense as well.
Another experienced defender might sound nice to have, but it’s a pretty full position group as is.
Need
I was reminded of the 2018 transfer window when pondering any potential Romero move.
At that time, Manchester United were in need of a center back signing and made none. There were links to Harry Maguire, but a 50m price tag put some off (hahahaha, if only they knew) ahead of an impressive year for Leicester that only raised that price.
There was a popular name among fans as well: Toby Alderweireld.
The then 29-year-old was fresh off of a World Cup with Belgium and an injury-plagued year with Tottenham next to Jan Vertonghen, and he fit the mold of an experienced defender Jose Mourinho teams like to have. Even a year on it seemed like a potential missed opportunity as he helped Spurs reach the Champions League Final.
By 2021, Alderweireld was moving to the Qatar Stars League.
That would have been the wrong route even when United needed a center back desperately. At present, it’s not that high on the list of needs. Some would argue it’s not on the list of needs at all.
