Tottenham digging their heels to retain Europa League hero as Spanish giants circle

Tottenham do not intend to let Cristian Romero leave on cheap and are want over £60 million for his services

New Tottenham Hotspur head coach Thomas Frank has plenty of tough decisions to make starting this summer.

Thomas Frank has made a good first impression at Spurs, and he is aiming to build on the Europa League success and make the club ‘serial winners’ in the coming years. He will be under high scrutiny from all directions, starting from recruitment of new players. This is why the current transfer window is extremely crucial for the Dane and Tottenham.

The 51-year-old certainly had conversations with the hierarchy before the club decided to make a move for highly-rated Japanese defender Kota Takai, who is set to join Spurs from Kawasaki Frontale. Frank is also expected to be consulted with regards to players he wants to keep at the club and build his team around. And he is already facing a difficult situation over one of the Lilywhites’ best players.

Cristian Romero has been widely linked with Atletico Madrid despite Tottenham’s hopes to retain him. The 2022 World Cup winner’s future at the club has been uncertain for a while now and he fuelled further speculation by admitting his desire to play in La Liga in future. This has led to Atletico Madrid even making it public that they want to sign the centre-back, with their coach Diego Simeone calling him a “great player”.

However, according to a report from The Telegraph, Spurs remain firm that they are going to get bullied into selling Cristian Romero for a cut-price fee by Atletico Madrid. They are valuing him at over £60 million, a fee the La Liga side may struggle to pay despite their concrete interest in signing the Argentinean international.

Romero, who was the Man of the Match in the Europa League final against Manchester United in May, still has two years left on his deal at White Hart Lane. The central defender has shown time and again why he is considered to be one of the best in his position in the world right now. Although this past season was a bit stop-start, he proved his value when it mattered the most and helped the North Londoners end their 17-year-old trophy drought.

The 27-year-old is set to return to the club for pre-season training in the second week of July with his future in doubt. It was recently suggested that Frank’s appointment as the new head coach has led to a U-turn on the South American’s Tottenham future.

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Daniel Levy is well within his rights to ask for over £60 million for Romero, given his stature, ability, leadership skills and pedigree. Tottenham clearly have no intentions of losing their best defender and they are doing everything they can to keep him at N17 for one more season as they look to kickstart a new era under Frank.