“I don’t want to lie” – Tottenham player’s father responds to ‘bombshell’ transfer claims

Tottenham Hotspur star Cristian Romero’s father Víctor Romero has questioned recent transfer claims.

The Argentina international first moved to Europe when Genoa signed him from Club Atlético Belgrano in 2018.

Since then, he had spells in Italy with Juventus and Atalanta, and La Dea sold him to Tottenham in 2020. Spurs initially signed the centre-back on loan and made his stay permanent a year later.

Last summer, Atlético Madrid wanted to sign the defender, but the Premier League side refused to budge and extended his contract.

The north London club have struggled this season and are now 17th in the table, a point about 18th placed West Ham United. Earlier this week, Roberto De Zerbi became their third manager of the season.

Two months ago, Sport Witness covered claims from Argentina that the 27-year-old will leave Spurs in the summer. Since then, there’s been claims of Atlético, Real Madrid and Barcelona interest.

Surprise transfer option for Tottenham star

Argentine journalist Fernando Lavecchia told Radio Splendid, relayed by Infobae, about a surprise claim regarding Cristian Romero.

He reported on Friday that the World Cup winner wants to leave Tottenham Hotspur and return to Club Atlético Belgrano.

The defender is a product of the Argentine club’s academy and spent two years with their first team before moving to Europe.

After Lavecchia reported this, Cadena 3 contacted Víctor Romero to get his take on his son’s possibile return.

“It’s a bombshell that keeps getting bigger. I hope it’s true; as a Belgrano fan and a father, what more could I want, but I don’t know anything,” he said.

However, the Spurs star’s father is surprised with this claim. Víctor explained: “Cuti isn’t one to make statements, that’s why it surprises me.”

At the same time, Romero.Sr isn’t closing the door on a potential transfer to his old club in the future.

“I don’t know anything, but in football anything can happen. Today you might be thinking about being close to your family, and tomorrow they put together a team to win the championship and everything changes. I don’t want to lie,” he added.

Spurs want to recover investment

The English club paid around €50m to Atalanta to buy Cristian Romero in 2021.

His father now admits Tottenham Hotspur would like to recover the fee invested from the sale.

“He has two more years on his contract with Tottenham and a very high release clause. The English club isn’t going to let him go for free; it’s between $50-70m [€43.4-60.6m]. For me, they’ll want to recover what they invested,” Víctor said.

Contract, value and agent info

Last August, the Spurs star signed a new contract until 2029 and Transfermarkt now value him at €50m.

The former Juventus man is represented by agent Ciro Palermo, who mainly takes care of Argentine players.