According to The Athletic, Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid have reached an agreement on a €40 million transfer for Cristian Romero, whose tenure at Tottenham Hotspur has been met with mixed reviews.

There will never be just one definitive opinion on Cristian Romero's time at Tottenham Hotspur.

He has been a leader, a liability, and even a talisman for the team. Five or ten years from now, people will still debate who this complex, fascinating, and perplexing figure truly is.

Of course, there's a lot of complexity here, but credit should also be given to the player who is about to join Atletico Madrid after the two clubs agreed on a €40 million deal, approximately £34.1 million, or $46 million.

Romero's best performance for Tottenham Hotspur arguably came on the club's most important night. In Bilbao in May 2025, Ange Postecoglou's side defeated Manchester United 1-0 to win the Europa League. Son Heung-min was the captain then, but Romero led the team out at San Mamés and wore the captain's armband for most of the match. He was the soul of that unforgettable performance.

Could Tottenham Hotspur have won that match without him? It's almost unimaginable. Romero can be an inconsistent player, and he seems easily distracted. But a few times every season, when he is in a rare state of balance, he can play at an unbelievably high level.

Such games are rare, but the Bilbao night was one of them. His defensive quality, including tackles, headers, and blocks, was of the highest standard. From before kick-off, when he rushed into the Manchester United half, gathering his teammates into the pre-match huddle, he had already gotten into the Manchester United players' heads and stayed there.

Modern Tottenham Hotspur often appeared naive. In the biggest matches, they sometimes stepped onto the field cautiously, playing as if just being there was enough. That night, it was so exhilarating to see Romero express himself with such impactful energy. His performance almost made Maguire throw punches at the final whistle.

That's Cristian Romero. At least, one version of him.

It's a confusing legacy. The simplest reason is that Romero wasn't always present. In his five seasons at Tottenham Hotspur, he only made more than 27 Premier League appearances once. Due to injuries and suspensions, he was never a player who could be consistently relied upon to be in the squad. And when he did play, no one knew what kind of performance he would deliver.

Romero could completely nullify Haaland for an entire match. He would engage in physical challenges early, knock his opponent to the ground in the first five minutes, and then keep them suppressed for the rest of the game. But he could also completely lose his position against an extremely ordinary team or present an opportunity to a striker who only scores five goals in a season.

He is both of these players. He can be incredibly brilliant, and he can be completely perplexing, sometimes even appearing simultaneously in the same half of a match.

Then there's the Argentine national team, and an external suspicion: that playing for the national team is far more important to him. Maybe it is? If so, perhaps there's nothing wrong with that? Romero belongs to that generation of Argentine internationals who were all deeply committed to helping Messi win the World Cup. This is a rare and unique situation. But for those who choose to see it this way, it also created a feeling that he never truly belonged to Tottenham Hotspur in the same way as other players, or even that he didn't want to.

The bigger issue often lies in external perceptions and the contradictions they reveal. In January, when Tottenham Hotspur was sliding towards the relegation zone, he seemed to criticize the club's decision-makers on social media, accusing them of "only showing up when everything is going well."

He articulated what many felt at the time, and in the following weeks, fans chanted his name, both home and away. Everyone together, always. But in April, during a disheartening 0-3 home loss to Nottingham Forest, his efforts to prevent the opponent from scoring the second goal were limited. A month later, in the final week of the season, before relegation was confirmed, he returned to Argentina to nurse a knee injury while a terrified team was fighting for survival.

He was granted permission. He did nothing wrong. Whether he intended to do so all along or changed his mind at the last minute, he flew back to London on the last Sunday of the season and attended the match against Everton. But choosing to return to Argentina during an extremely sensitive period was bound to cause controversy.

Was he right? Or wrong? Had everyone lost the ability to make rational judgments? Fans have the right to their own opinions. But whether then, now, or in the future, there are always too many perspectives to choose from regarding Romero. He always evokes such contradictory emotions that no one can truly be sure how they feel about him.

Perhaps things could have been different. Romero often seemed exasperated by the club's weaknesses and the imperfections of the manager at the time. What if he had played under Mauricio Pochettino, alongside Toby Alderweireld or Jan Vertonghen? Such a scenario is natural, but dwelling on it is pointless.

Now, he is Atletico Madrid's enigma.

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