Real Madrid have been linked with a potential summer swoop for Tottenham Hotspur’s Cristian Romero.
A busy summer awaits Tottenham who will be looking to provide Ange Postecoglou the tools he needs to make this squad his own.
The Australian has had 12 months now to work out which are the players he feels can take Spurs forward under his tenure and this summer will see changes made.
Numerous players have already been forced out from Hotspur Way prior to the summer transfer window even opening.
But it seems there is interest growing from Real Madrid in Tottenham’s vice-captain Cristian Romero following an exceptional campaign in the Premier League.
And The Spurs News has been provided the lowdown on the situation by HITC Football‘s transfer expert Graeme Bailey.
- READ MORE: Exclusive: Tottenham have £28m striker on their radar this summer that Harry Kane hailed ‘fantastic’
Real Madrid have interest in Cristian Romero but Spurs will hold strong
Going into Postecoglou’s second term as the Spurs manager, he will not be looking to lose another top player for the second summer running after losing Harry Kane.
However, Real Madrid are showing an interest in Tottenham’s vice-captain as they look to add to their defence over the coming months.
READ MORE: Meet Tottenham defender Cristian Romero, the all-action, World Cup winning centre-back
Bailey has informed The Spurs News that Tottenham would be willing to listen to offers in excess of £100m for Romero – as they would for any player.
However, the likelihood of Madrid being able to part with that type of money this summer is extremely small.
Florentino Perez’s side are in the market for a new centre-back this summer and they do have other players on their radar.
Arsenal’s William Saliba is a player they have been long-term admirers of, but Madrid are also keen on Lenny Yoro and Antonio Silva.
Real Madrid are unable to spend £100m on Cristian Romero
Madrid have recently announced the huge acquisition of Kylian Mbappe who is going to cost the club considerably.
Any chance of then offering £100m on a centre-back is close to nil with the Champions League champions having to comply with UEFA’s cost control rules.
TBR Football‘s financial expert Adam Williams has provided The Spurs News with an insight to how Madrid’s finances look going into the summer window.
“Madrid’s latest accounts show that their wage bill is around £383m. I expect that figure to remain roughly the same if not slightly lower next season,” Williams said.
“That figure is some way short of the spending cap imposed by La Liga, which is around £615m.
“They also received around £118m in total from their Champions League campaign, which is almost enough to cover Mbappe’s gargantuan signing on fee.
- READ MORE: What Cristian Romero previously said about joining La Liga as Real Madrid show interest this summer
“The reason that Real Madrid might not be able to afford a £100m outlay on Romero may lie with UEFA’s squad cost control ratio,” he added.
“The system is being phased in and next season will limit clubs to spending 80 per cent of turnover on wages, transfers and agent fees per season. Real Madrid’s turnover was £712m in 2022-23, giving them a limit of £569.6m in theory.
“The numbers will be slightly different based on their 2023-24 accounts but, assuming their wage bill stays they same and factoring in Mbappe’s £150m signing fee, that gives them a squad cost of £533m – beyond the limit.”
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