Atletico Madrid have reached an agreement with Tottenham Hotspur to sign Cristian Romero for £34.2 million (40 million euros).
The 28-year-old player is Atletico’s fourth summer signing, but Spurs will keep 15 per cent sell-on clause as part of the deal.
Romero, the captain of the Argentine national team, was the target of attention of the English champions Arsenal recently, but Tottenham were not keen to sell their skipper to north London neighbours.
He joins Atletico after spending five years at Tottenham where he made 156 appearances, netting 13 goals, following his first season on loan from Atalanta in 2021.
The centre-back player featured for Argentina during their run in the World Cup this summer, featuring in all matches except for one game, per BBC Sport.
For the Spurs supporters, the news will come as a shock as they are losing Djed Spence to Inter Milan, who are engaged in advanced negotiations to sign the England full-back in a £25.6m (30 million euros) deal.
With the signings of midfielders Kang-in Lee and Morten Hjulmand and left-back Alejandro Grimaldo, Atletico will take their transfer expenditure past the £100m mark in the current summer window if they manage to sign Romero.
Diego Simeone aims to strengthen his squad after finishing in fourth position in La Liga last season with Villarreal snatching the third spot from them.
