{"id":67868,"date":"2026-08-08T15:36:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/67868\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:36:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:36:15","slug":"tottenham-defender-still-waiting-for-barcelona-despite-advanced-talks-with-atletico-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/67868\/","title":{"rendered":"Tottenham defender still waiting for Barcelona despite advanced talks with Atletico Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cristian Romero is expected to leave Tottenham this summer, with <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/barcelona-set-to-miss-out-as-atletico-madrid-accelerate-move-for-tottenham-captain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Atletico Madrid currently leading the race<\/a> for the Argentine defender.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mundodeportivo.com\/futbol\/fc-barcelona\/20260808\/1004214296\/cuti-romero-sigue-esperando-barca.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Mundo Deportivo<\/a>, the deal has not yet been finalised, as Romero is still monitoring Barcelona\u2019s transfer plans, particularly after Ronald Araujo\u2019s move to Liverpool created a vacancy in the Blaugrana defence.<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona have long admired Romero<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Romero has been on Barcelona\u2019s radar for several weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Argentine international is highly regarded by  Deco, although the club have not moved forward with the operation because other positions have taken priority and departures were needed before any serious move could be considered.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/tottenham-hotspur-v-brighton-and-hove-albion-premier-league-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Cristian Romero of Tottenham\" class=\"wp-image-208403\"  \/>Romero still waiting for Barcelona. (Photo by Alex Pantling\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That situation has not changed. Barcelona\u2019s immediate focus remains signing a new centre-forward and completing the arrival of Rodri.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once those cases are resolved, considerations could be made for the addition of a new central defender before the transfer window slams shut.<\/p>\n<p>Flick believes the position is covered<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Within the club, both Deco and Hansi Flick believe Barcelona already have sufficient depth at centre-back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The current options include Pau Cubarsi, Gerard Martin, Andreas Christensen, and academy graduate Alvaro Cortes, who is now considered the leading candidate to fill the space left by Ara\u00fajo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition, Eric Garcia, Jules Kounde, and even Rodri are all capable of playing in central defence if required.<\/p>\n<p>Deco remains interested<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"696\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sunderland-v-tottenham-hotspur-premier-league-1-1-1024x696.jpg\" alt=\"Cristian Romero of Tottenham\" class=\"wp-image-208405\"  \/>Atletico Madrid are pushing to sign Romero. (Photo by Stu Forster\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even so, Deco continues to admire Romero\u2019s profile. The Barcelona sporting director has already <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/barcelona-in-contact-with-premier-league-defenders-camp-player-prioritises-playing-in-spain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">held discussions with the defender\u2019s agent<\/a> and views the 28-year-old as an experienced, quick and reliable centre-back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although Barcelona had initially preferred a naturally left-footed defender, Deco believes Romero is capable of performing effectively on either side of central defence despite being right-footed.<\/p>\n<p>Tottenham open to a sale<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tottenham are now prepared to let the World Cup-winning defender leave.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Premier League club have valued Romero at around \u20ac40 million and are currently negotiating with Atletico Madrid, whose latest offer stands at \u20ac30 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For now, the Rojiblancos remain in the strongest position, but Romero continues to keep an eye on Barcelona\u2019s next move before committing his future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cristian Romero is expected to leave Tottenham this summer, with Atletico Madrid currently leading the race for the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[179,92,222,7840,223,82,4614],"class_list":["post-67868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-madrid","tag-atletico-madrid","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-cristian-romero","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-madrid","tag-tottenham"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67868","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=67868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}