{"id":68960,"date":"2026-08-11T07:36:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T07:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/68960\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T07:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T07:36:07","slug":"barcelona-linked-premier-league-defender-chooses-to-join-atletico-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/68960\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona-linked Premier League defender chooses to join Atletico Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cristian Romero has made a decision on his future <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Argentine centre-back had interest from several clubs, most notably Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Arsenal, but according to reports relayed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sport.es\/es\/noticias\/barca\/cuti-romero-decidido-atletico-madrid-barcelona-133246043\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">SPORT<\/a>, he has now chosen the Rojiblancos\u2019 project.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The decisive factor, according to the report, was Diego Simeone\u2019s persistence over three consecutive transfer windows.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Atletico have been determined to sign Romero for some time, particularly after the defender\u2019s impressive World Cup. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Simeone has repeatedly pushed for his arrival and appears finally to have convinced the 28-year-old that Madrid is the right destination.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barcelona, meanwhile, had <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/barcelona-weigh-up-move-for-premier-league-star-after-araujo-exit-la-liga-defender-another-option\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Romero on their list of targets<\/a> but had a different preference for the position.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sunderland-v-tottenham-hotspur-premier-league-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Cristian Romero of Tottenham\" class=\"wp-image-208404\"  \/>Romero has chosen Atletico Madrid. (Photo by George Wood\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona preferred a left-footed centre-back<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Catalan club has generally prioritised a left-footed defender to partner Pau Cubars\u00ed, who remains Hansi Flick\u2019s undisputed first choice in the centre of defence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That profile has made players such as Aymeric Laporte and academy graduate \u00c1lvaro Cort\u00e9s more natural fits for Barcelona\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More recently, the La Liga champions have also been <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/la-liga-defender-back-on-barcelonas-radar-following-ronald-araujo-exit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">credited with an interest in Real Betis and Brazil defender Natan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Romero\u2019s decision, therefore, represents a setback for Bar\u00e7a, but not necessarily a major blow to its defensive planning.<\/p>\n<p>Tottenham set a \u20ac40 million asking price<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Romero still has a contract with Tottenham Hotspur until 2029 and has a market value of around \u20ac50 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The London club has placed a \u20ac40 million asking price on the Argentine, although Atletico\u2019s opening proposal, led by sporting director Mateu Alemany, was believed to be around \u20ac30 million.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786433767_348_england-v-argentina-semi-final-fifa-world-cup-2026-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Cristian Romero of Tottenham and Argentina\" class=\"wp-image-207979\"  \/>Not a priority for Barcelona. (Photo by Richard Pelham\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Inter Milan, another interested club, would be prepared to go as high as \u20ac35 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Romero is looking for a new challenge after spending the last five seasons at Tottenham. Before moving to England, he spent three seasons in Italy with Genoa and Atalanta.<\/p>\n<p>Atletico talks intensify<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the report, negotiations between Atl\u00e9tico, Tottenham and Romero\u2019s representatives intensified on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The remaining issues include the defender\u2019s salary and the bonuses that could be included in the transfer agreement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For now, Romero remains in his native Cordoba on holiday, where he has also been attending local events.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But with Atl\u00e9tico now reportedly his preferred destination and negotiations gathering pace, Barcelona\u2019s hopes of bringing Romero to Catalonia appear to be fading fast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cristian Romero has made a decision on his future The Argentine centre-back had interest from several clubs, most&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[179,92,222,7840,223,4614],"class_list":["post-68960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-atletico-madrid","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\/68960","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=68960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}