{"id":70018,"date":"2026-08-13T09:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T09:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/70018\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T09:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T09:07:10","slug":"hansi-flick-personally-rejected-barcelona-move-for-atletico-madrid-bound-defender-romano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/70018\/","title":{"rendered":"Hansi Flick personally rejected Barcelona move for Atletico Madrid-bound defender – Romano"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barcelona have had quite an active summer transfer window so far, bringing in the likes of Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi.<\/p>\n

The Catalan club are also in negotiations to sign Rodri from Manchester City in what will be a ceiling-raising addition to Hansi Flick\u2019s squad.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there have also been players who have left the club this summer, with Ronald Araujo securing a loan move to Liverpool.<\/p>\n

This has opened up a slot in central defence that Flick could choose to fill with a signing or by promoting someone like Alvaro Cortes from within.<\/p>\n

One player who had offered himself to Bar\u00e7a was Tottenham Hotspur captain Cristian Romero, but the club chose not to pursue a move for him.<\/p>\n

The 2022 World Cup winner is now on his way to Atletico Madrid, where he will get to play under Diego Simeone.<\/p>\n

Flick does not want the signing<\/p>\n

According to Fabrizio Romano<\/a>, the decision not to pursue the Argentina international was made by Barcelona\u2019s sporting department after discussions with Flick.<\/p>\n

\"JulianBarcelona were never interested in Cristian Romero. (Photo by Hector Vivas\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Romano insists the interest was never concrete. Barcelona discussed the possibility internally, but Flick ultimately did not approve the operation.<\/p>\n

The German coach was not convinced that signing Romero was the right move for his squad, and the sporting department shared that assessment.<\/p>\n

It could be a stylistic decision as the Argentine is not too dissimilar from Araujo, who did not prove to be a great fit for Hansi Flick\u2019s system.<\/p>\n

It also seems quite evident that the German manager wants a naturally left-footed defender in that position, and Romero is not that.<\/p>\n

Bar\u00e7a have Lukeba and Laporte on their radar<\/p>\n

Barcelona have been tipped to re-emerge as contenders<\/a> to sign Castello Lukeba from RB Leipzig this summer.<\/p>\n

The Frenchman is naturally left-footed and adept at covering at left-back if needed. His physicality offers something different to the existing central defensive options in the squad.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Athletic Club defender Aymeric Laporte has also been offered to the club, but Bar\u00e7a are being very cautious with the 32-year-old.<\/p>\n

\"CristianRomero is close to signing for Atletico Madrid. (Photo by George Wood\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Catalan club will consider a move for Laporte<\/a> only if all the terms are crystal clear due to their poor relationship with the Basque club.<\/p>\n

Hansi Flick calls the shots<\/p>\n

The decision also underlines the influence Flick has over Barcelona\u2019s recruitment.<\/p>\n

Deco and the sporting department may identify potential opportunities, but the coach\u2019s assessment of how a player fits his system remains an important part of the process.<\/p>\n

In Romero\u2019s case, the answer was ultimately no.<\/p>\n

Bar\u00e7a have had a clear plan of only making signings who would fit into the system this summer, and that is a very healthy way of operating in the market.<\/p>\n

Flick may have said no to Romero, but it remains to be seen whether he asks for another central defender or decides to trust Cortes this upcoming season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barcelona have had quite an active summer transfer window so far, bringing in the likes of Anthony Gordon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[179,92,222,7840,223,82,3196],"class_list":["post-70018","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-hotspur"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70018","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=70018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}