Inter have already begun talks with Tottenham over Cristian Romero, and Fabrizio Romano says there will be a meeting this week, "100%," between the defender's entourage and Inter. Tottenham still hold a contract running to June 2029, but the early advantage appears to be with Inter, not Barcelona.

Inter's push for Romero

The timeline is straightforward enough. Inter were first into the conversation, then came the more concrete step of direct talks with Tottenham, and now the meeting with Romero's representatives is set for this week. Romano has also said, "It's over between Romero and Tottenham. Romero is going to leave Tottenham this summer. Inter Milan are very keen on the player."

Romero's profile helps explain why Inter are pressing. He started or featured in 7 World Cup matches in the supplied dataset, logged 627 minutes and posted a 7.16 rating. That is the sort of international workload and level Inter want if they are serious about landing a defender who can walk into the team rather than wait for a long settling-in period.

Tottenham's valuation and Barcelona's limits

Tottenham's asking price is where the deal gets messy. Reports put Romero in the €45m-€50m bracket, while Inter are trying to work toward a loan with an obligation to buy and a lower buy-out fee, around €35m-€40m. Those are different starting points, and they are far enough apart to keep the negotiations live.

Barcelona are in the race, but they are not in the same position to move quickly. The club need to sell players before bringing in any new star arrivals, which leaves Inter better placed to keep control of the structure. Tottenham ended the Premier League season 17th, so there is obvious pressure to reshape the squad, but that does not mean they are likely to discount a player under contract until 2029.

The opening is there for Inter, and the next concrete step is this week's meeting with Romero's entourage. If that goes well, the rest of the race becomes a question of whether Tottenham bend on price or Inter get closer to the loan-plus-obligation package they want.

Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →