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THE €100M QUESTION: CAN REAL MADRID ACTUALLY TEMPT SPURS TO SELL CRISTIAN ROMERO?
Real Madrid are reportedly ready to offer €100M for Cristian Romero to solve a defensive crisis that has seen them drop to 9th in the UCL.
Tottenham Hotspur have a real dilemma on their hands, with reports out of Spain claiming Real Madrid are about to slap a wild €100 million offer on the table for Cristian Romero. Sounds dramatic, but let’s not get swept up just yet.
Real Madrid is having a rough time. They’re chasing Barcelona by a single point in LaLiga, and just got hammered 4-2 away to Jose Mourinho’s Benfica—enough to knock them out of the Champions League’s top eight and dump them into the play-offs. That stings. Combine that with letting in 12 goals in their last eight Champions League games and losing Eder Militao for the long haul, and it’s no shock that Florentino Perez, Madrid’s president, is getting twitchy.
Spanish outlet Fichajes says Perez has had enough. Between crashing out of the Copa del Rey to Albacete—a team from the second division, no less—and the ongoing defensive mess, Madrid are desperate. Supposedly, Perez wants to go big and throw €100 million at Spurs for Romero, hoping the sheer size of the offer will force Tottenham’s hand.
Madrid sees Romero as exactly what they’re missing: a defender with some bite and personality. According to these reports, Perez thinks the huge fee will be impossible for Spurs to refuse.
If this goes through, it’d become the third biggest January transfer ever—behind Chelsea’s €121 million for Enzo Fernandez and Barcelona’s monster €135 million move for Philippe Coutinho. It’d also match what Madrid paid Spurs for Gareth Bale in 2013, which is still Tottenham’s record sale.
But here’s the thing—Tottenham aren’t exactly eager to sell. Rumours about Madrid wanting Romero aren’t new. Last April, Romero himself admitted that a move to Spain would tempt him. He even said he’d love to play in La Liga since it’s the only major league he hasn’t tried yet.
But right now, Spurs are stretched at the back. Micky van de Ven, Romero’s regular partner (and a long-term Madrid target himself), is out injured. Selling Romero now would be disastrous for Tottenham. People around the club aren’t ruling out Madrid making a move in the summer, but for this month, there’s no sign Tottenham will budge, no matter how much money is on offer.
Meanwhile, Van de Ven missed the trip to Germany for Spurs’ last Champions League group game against Eintracht Frankfurt—a match Tottenham won 2-0, easing the pressure on boss Thomas Frank and booking a spot in the last 16. There’s hope Van de Ven could feature against Manchester City on Sunday, but Pedro Porro is definitely out for a month with a hamstring injury.
With so many defenders missing, Spurs had to line up with Romero and Kevin Danso in the middle, flanked by Djed Spence and Destiny Udogie in that win over Frankfurt. Still, Frank will take heart from another Champions League clean sheet.
Romero got plenty of praise after that game—not just for his defending, but for setting up Randal Kolo Muani’s goal. On Match of the Day, Stephen Warnock said, “They were clinical, and that’s what you want away from home. Kolo Muani did exactly what you need from your striker in the box. Credit to Romero—he’s a real threat on set pieces. That back-post header was clever. He put it right where his striker needed it. Bit of a scruffy finish, but nobody cares when it ends up in the net.”
LONDON DERBY: CHELSEA AND TOTTENHAM TO BATTLE FOR BAYERN’S KIM MIN-JAE THIS SUMMER
Kim Min-Jae is back on the radar! Discover why Chelsea and Tottenham are racing to sign the Bayern Munich defender this summer.
Are Chelsea and Tottenham about to scrap over a top defender this summer? It’s not out of the question.
Both clubs have different priorities right now, but things could get interesting if Bayern Munich decide to let Kim Min-Jae go. That would put two London rivals on a collision course, each desperate for defensive reinforcements.
Chelsea, under Liam Rosenior, appears to be a different team, boasting eight wins from eleven games in all competitions. Rosenior’s barely had time to settle in, and he’s already been tested on four fronts. They’re hungry, and the mood around Stamford Bridge has shifted.
Tottenham, though, are in a very different place. They’re flirting with the relegation zone, and this time the threat feels real. West Ham, Leeds, and Forest are all clawing for survival. Spurs have Igor Tudor in charge until the end of the season, and managing in England for the first time while juggling a pile of injuries isn’t exactly a dream start. If they stay up, and right now, that’s still a big "if", they’ll need to strengthen fast.
That’s where Kim Min-Jae comes in. Both Chelsea and Spurs are eyeing him up, according to reports. Bayern paid £43 million to bring him in from Napoli last year, making him the most expensive Asian player ever. He helped Napoli win the Scudetto before that, and he’s won titles in Germany and South Korea, too. The guy knows how to get over the line.
But things haven’t clicked at Bayern. Kim was excellent in their 3-0 win over Bremen last weekend, but he’s mostly been third-choice behind Upamecano and Tah. Ten Bundesliga starts, just two in the Champions League. Not exactly what he signed up for. Bayern insider Christian Falk says Chelsea and Spurs have both shown interest, and Kim’s on their shortlist. Liverpool have been linked to, but right now, it’s the London clubs circling.
Chelsea have a hole at the back ever since Thiago Silva moved on. Kim, at 29, would instantly become the oldest player in the squad – not a bad thing for a team packed with young talent that sometimes looks a bit lost under pressure. They need his experience.
Spurs, on the other hand, have a solid pairing with Van de Ven and Romero, but if they lose one, things get thin pretty fast. Kim would be an upgrade on their depth and could slot straight into the starting eleven. And let’s be honest, the Son Heung-min effect is real. Kim would draw huge support from South Korea, just like Son has.
Kim isn’t agitating for a move just yet, but if Bayern decide to cash in and the right offer lands on the table, don’t be surprised to see him in the Premier League next season. Whether it’s in blue or white, that’s the part nobody knows yet.
PGMOL SIDELINES CHRIS KAVANAGH AS REFEREEING STANDARDS COME UNDER INTENSE SCRUTINY
Chris Kavanagh won't referee this weekend! Analyse the PGMOL decision and Wayne Rooney’s "worst ever" handball claim at Villa Park.
Chris Kavanagh won’t be refereeing any Premier League games this weekend, and honestly, that’s no surprise after all the drama in last Saturday’s Aston Villa vs Newcastle FA Cup match.
Kavanagh and his assistants, Gary Beswick and Nick Greenhalgh, got hammered by critics for how they handled that fourth-round tie at Villa Park. There was no VAR in play; none of the matches in that round had it, so the officials had to make the big calls themselves.
They missed Tammy Abraham standing offside for Villa’s first goal. Then Lucas Digne put in a high challenge on Newcastle’s Jacob Murphy, the sort of tackle that usually gets a red card, but nothing happened. Later, Digne got penalised for a handball, but he was clearly inside the box, and somehow the ref gave a free-kick outside instead.
This weekend, Beswick is working as an assistant for the Nottingham Forest vs Liverpool game on Sunday, but Kavanagh and Greenhalgh are nowhere to be seen on the official appointments list.
Referees are judged on their performances. The Professional Game Match Officials (PGMOL) decide who gets which games based on a bunch of factors, including independent assessments after each match.
Still, Kavanagh is well-regarded among refs. He just made it onto UEFA’s top officials list and often gets Champions League matches. Earlier on Monday, Wayne Rooney chimed in and said the mistakes from Saturday showed just how much refs have come to rely on VAR.
On BBC’s live coverage that night, Rooney called the handball decision “one of the worst” he’d ever seen. Later, on his podcast, he said, “I think there’s over-reliance on VAR. Now the officials are used to it; they wait for VAR to bail them out. With no VAR, they have to make the call themselves, and they’re so used to keeping the flag down that it cost them yesterday.”
Graham Scott, who used to referee in the Premier League, joined the podcast too. He pushed back against the idea that refs hide behind VAR. “I work with them closely; I know these guys, and they’re not like that,” Scott said. “That’s not how they think or work. I spent half my career with VAR and half without it – well, actually, without it first. Even when I was in the Premier League, I’d sometimes ref in the Championship with no VAR. You’re in and out, but your process doesn’t really change.”
VAR comes back for the FA Cup from the fifth round. In the Premier League, officials are told to trust their own judgement. The English top flight actually has the lowest rate of VAR interventions in Europe’s major leagues. Here, they only overturn a call if it’s clearly and obviously wrong.
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