Club president says he had ‘duty to sell’ player to Tottenham – Chelsea option was out of reach

Cristian Romero has only made a brief appearance in the Premier League so far, but has picked up more minutes in the Europa Conference League.

Moving to Tottenham from Atalanta in the summer, the defender has been away with Argentina’s national side, and is expected to travel to Croatia and train there, so he can avoid hotel quarantine in the UK.

The Serie A club’s president has been speaking to the media, and explained Atalanta’s financial reality meant they had to accept Tottenham’s offer for Romero, and he gave the same reason for failing to sign Tammy Abraham from Chelsea.

YSport Atalanta quote Antonio Percassi as saying: “We are Atalanta and at certain figures Atalanta has a duty to sell. The operation allowed us to make investments of more than 60 million. Without the sale of Romero it would not have been possible to expand the workforce in all departments.”

On the failure to sign Abraham from Chelsea, he said: “This is another example of what we are and what we cannot be. We have known the boy for some time, but the cost of the card and the salary are for a great club. We have another dimension.”

Percassi also talked down his club’s chances of winning the Serie A title this season. He explained that finishing third in the Italian league should be seen as a title win for Atalanta, given their smaller resources in comparison to bigger and wealthier rivals.