When it was announced that Tottenham had signed Cristian Romero from Atalanta, it wasn’t explicitly made clear that the deal was a loan.
The fee has always been put forward as €50m, but, as things stand, the Argentine is only at the club temporarily, although everyone expects the move to be made permanent come the end of the season.
In fact, if Prima Bergamo are to be believed, Tottenham have placed that decision in Atalanta’s hands, and not their own.
The Italian outlet, when looking at the decision to swap Romero for Merih Demiral in their squad, reveal that the player was sent to Spurs ‘on a costly loan with a redemption that will be made in 2022 when Atalanta decide to do so’.
So that means that from the 1st of January onwards, the Italians can call up Daniel Levy and simply ask him to pay the money.
Perhaps they did this to ensure they can get Demiral from Juventus at any time during the first half of the season, but it’s certainly a strange way of doing a deal.
Then again, if Tottenham are prepared to pay the €50m regardless and the loan was just a way to delay the outlay into the next financial year, it doesn’t really matter to them.
