{"id":63650,"date":"2026-07-31T11:22:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T11:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/63650\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T11:22:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T11:22:28","slug":"tottenham-leave-door-open-for-defenders-exit-as-barcelona-monitor-situation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/63650\/","title":{"rendered":"Tottenham leave door open for defender&#8217;s exit as Barcelona monitor situation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cristian Romero remains one of the most closely watched defenders on the transfer market, with his future at Tottenham increasingly uncertain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sport.es\/es\/noticias\/barca\/tottenham-da-via-libre-salida-132971671\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">SPORT<\/a>, Barcelona continue to monitor the Argentine international\u2019s situation, although any move for the centre-back would still depend on departures in Hansi Flick\u2019s defensive unit before the club can make a formal approach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, comments from Tottenham manager Francesco De Zerbi have fuelled speculation that Romero\u2019s time in North London may be coming to an end.<\/p>\n<p>De Zerbi open to Romero exit<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking about Romero\u2019s future, De Zerbi praised the defender\u2019s professionalism and commitment throughout his time under the Italian coach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cRomero was incredible with me. Top level. His behaviour and his respect were outstanding,\u201d De Zerbi said.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/auckland-fc-v-tottenham-hotspur-pre-season-friendly-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Tottenham Hotspur Manager Roberto De Zerbi\" class=\"wp-image-207470\"  \/>De Zerbi open to Romero departure. (Photo by Phil Walter\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also dismissed reports suggesting the World Cup winner had wanted to leave Tottenham\u2019s training camp early to prepare for international duty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat isn\u2019t true. He never wanted to leave for Argentina early to prepare for the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, his most revealing comments came when discussing Romero\u2019s future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAfter the semi-final against England we exchanged a few messages, but I never called him to convince him to stay. I respected what he told me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those remarks have been widely interpreted as confirmation that Tottenham are prepared to let Romero leave if the right opportunity arises rather than trying to persuade him to remain at the club.<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona continue to monitor<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barcelona remain attentive to developments. Sporting director Deco continues to regard Romero as one of the club\u2019s preferred options to strengthen central defence. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"699\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/manchester-united-v-tottenham-hotspur-premier-league-1-1024x699.jpg\" alt=\"Cristian Romero, Tottenham star\" class=\"wp-image-195427\"  \/>Barcelona keeping an eye on Romero. (Photo by Gareth Copley\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But any move remains dependent on outgoing transfers creating both squad space and salary flexibility.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For now, the Catalan club is <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/barcelona-in-contact-with-premier-league-defenders-camp-player-prioritises-playing-in-spain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">maintaining contact<\/a> while waiting to see whether movement in its own defence opens the door to negotiations.<\/p>\n<p>Competition for his signature<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barcelona are not the only club interested in the 27-year-old.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan have also been linked with Romero in recent weeks, setting up what could become a competitive race should Tottenham formally place the defender on the market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the moment, no destination has been decided, but De Zerbi\u2019s public comments have reinforced the growing belief that Romero\u2019s spell in North London could soon come to an end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cristian Romero remains one of the most closely watched defenders on the transfer market, with his future at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,222,7840,223,4614],"class_list":["post-63650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-cristian-romero","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-tottenham"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63650","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=63650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}