{"id":14296,"date":"2026-04-30T04:37:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T04:37:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/14296\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T04:37:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T04:37:40","slug":"messi-had-recommended-barcelonas-defensive-target-to-the-club-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/14296\/","title":{"rendered":"Messi had recommended Barcelona&#8217;s defensive target to the club years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With just four games to go in the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur are very close to suffering relegation in what comes as a shocking situation.<\/p>\n<p>They currently sit in 18th place, two points behind 17th-placed West Ham, and could well go down to the second division for next season. <\/p>\n<p>Needless to say, all of Europe\u2019s elite are alert to the situation of the English giants for their star players will be available at bargain fees should such a relegation unfold.<\/p>\n<p>Cristian Romero, on that front, is a name\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/barcelona-eyeing-tottenham-defender-as-a-backup-option-for-alessandro-bastoni\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">that interests Barcelona<\/a>\u00a0who are actively looking for central defensive signings in June.<\/p>\n<p>Not for the first time<\/p>\n<p>As relayed by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sport.es\/es\/noticias\/barca\/messi-quiso-cuti-romero-barca-129638364\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">SPORT<\/a>\u00a0in a recent report, this is not the first time Romero has been linked with a move to Barcelona in recent times.<\/p>\n<p>Back in 2021, when Lionel Messi was still the captain of Barcelona and even negotiating a renewal with Joan Laporta and Co., Romero was linked with a move to Catalonia which never unfolded.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/netherlands-v-argentina-quarter-final-fifa-world-cup-qatar-2022-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Lionel Messi and Cristian Romero of Argentina\" class=\"wp-image-198318\"  \/>Messi wanted Barcelona to sign Romero back in 2021. (Photo by Richard Heathcote\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>At the time, Messi demanded a competitive project from the board after the repeated humiliations in Europe, and Romero was seen as a fundamental piece of the puzzle that was missing. <\/p>\n<p>The Argentine legend, in fact, directly recommended the defender\u2019s signing as a game-changer.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, however, Messi himself was forced to leave the club and Romero\u2019s arrival became impossible and the player eventually signed for Tottenham.<\/p>\n<p>Now, with the club close to relegation, he may well opt to leave the club and re-ignite his dream to play for Barcelona. <\/p>\n<p>While he is currently injured, he is expected to return in time for the FIFA World Cup and his performance in that competition may prove pivotal for his future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With just four games to go in the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur are very close to suffering relegation&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,222,7840,223,332,4614],"class_list":{"0":"post-14296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-barcelona","8":"tag-barcelona","9":"tag-barcelona-news","10":"tag-cristian-romero","11":"tag-fc-barcelona","12":"tag-lionel-messi","13":"tag-tottenham"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}