Needing reinforcements at the back in the summer, Tottenham, via their director of football Fabio Paratici, found himself dipping in a pool of players he knew well.
Having already bought Cristian Romero from Genoa for Juventus before sending him on loan to Atalanta, the Italian transfer chief knew he could probably reunite with the Argentine in London, which is when he started the work to get a deal over the line.
His former club got some money out of it, as the Bergamo club had to pay their Turin counterparts a €16m fee to make the move permanent, pocketing any profit beyond that, which will be around €34m.
While Romero might have only played three times in the league under Nuno Espirito Santo, he has also featured a few times in Europe as well, meaning Spurs fans are slowly starting to appreciate what he has to offer.
For others, however, the player’s pedigree is there for all to see, with Lionel Scaloni, speaking to La Nacion, making some strong claims about the Tottenham man.
He said: “He is one of the best in the world in his position. Overflowing with humility, it is what we want from the 30 that we summon. He doesn’t think that of himself, he always transmits the desire to be here, and that is seen on the field.
“He has to keep improving, he is very young. At some point, he will have difficulties, and we will have to be there to support him”.
His next match will be against Peru for his country, before returning to Tottenham, where he still has a lot to prove.
That being said, he has ambitions, and is clearly hoping that his time at Spurs will help him achieve them.
Because, as La Nacion put it, he is a ‘serial competitor’ and ‘neither the money nor the Premier League make him feel that he has reached his goal’.
As they say, Romero ‘will always find a new carrot to chase’.
