Atletico Madrid make contact with star Premier League defender

It would be easy to think that Atletico Madrid had made it a policy to bring in as many Uruguayans and Argentines as possible under Diego Simeone, and El Cholo appears to have set his sights on another of the Albiceleste’s World Cup-winning squad. In this case, Tottenham Hotspur defender Cristian Romero.

In recent days Los Colchoneros have been linked with another Spurs star hailing from La Plata in Rodrigo Bentancur, but Relevo explain that ‘Cuti’ Romero represents a ‘dream signing’ for Simeone. Atletico Madrid will be on the hunt for further reinforcements in defence this summer with Cesar Azpilicueta almost certain to depart the club, and Romero will seriously consider his future at Spurs this summer.

JUST IN: Koke is back in training with the team!@mundodeportivo pic.twitter.com/PeQRh6p4MW

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Los Rojiblancos do not want to be left behind if Romero does decide to leave the club, and as such, have already made contact with Romero’s camp. For his part, Romero would be keen on a move to Atletico, if there is one on the cards, and would do what was necessary to make it happen should that come to fruition. There are no formal negotiations underway either, but Atletico are aware that any deal will be extremely difficult.

Spurs CEO Daniel Levy is notorious for being a tough negotiator, and the 26-year-old is coming into the prime of his career with two years left on his deal. Real Madrid have previously been linked with Romero more often than Atletico, but a deal is plausible if Atletico are willing to make a significant investment.

It would come as something of a surprise were Atletico to invest big at centre-back again, after spending close to €40m on Robin Le Normand last summer. However as they showed with Julian Alvarez, if they believe that a game-changing player is on the market, they are willing to spend in order to make it happen.