Inter have confirmed they are talking about Cristian Romero, but this is not the shape of a straightforward deal. Piero Ausilio said Inter have spoken with Tottenham and Romero's representatives, while Tottenham's valuation is around €50m and the defender remains under contract until 2029. The public interest is real. The easy part ends there.

Inter's confirmed interest

Ausilio did not hide the chase. Speaking about Romero, he said: "It's definitely a deal we are trying to sign with the player and the club (Tottenham). These things take some time but there's definitely interest. Let's see." He gave the same message again elsewhere, adding that Inter had expressed interest to both the player and the club.

That puts the move in a different place from the usual transfer noise. Inter are not being coy about their target, and Tottenham are not dealing from a weak position. The reported €50m price is one issue, Romero's contract is another, and neither points toward a quick sale.

The asterisk pundits raise

The argument against paying up is obvious enough. Romero's quality is not in doubt, but his discipline last season was a problem for any club trying to price him cleanly. He was shown nine yellow cards and two red cards in the Premier League, made 23 league appearances, and missed six matches across three separate suspensions.

Those numbers do not make him a poor player. They do make him a riskier one. Micky Gray's point on talkSPORT was that a partnership with Lisandro Martínez would give a team a clear idea of what it is getting from both men, "whether you love or hate them". That is fair, but it cuts both ways. The known quantity here includes the bookings, the suspensions and the missed games.

Tottenham finished 17th in the Premier League, so they are hardly in a mood to give away an established defender cheaply. Inter's interest is public, the fee is high, and Romero's profile carries baggage. The move is live, but it is being fought on price and risk rather than on simple desire.

Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →