Tottenham Faces Midfield and Defensive Challenges with Romero and Sarr Leaving
Tottenham are trying to build a squad for stability. Two key players are already looking for the door.
Cristian Romero and Pape Matar Sarr both want to leave Spurs this summer, with Romero now edging towards an exit as interest hardens into concrete negotiations.
This comes at a delicate moment for the club. Tottenham only escaped relegation to the Championship on the final day of last season. The hierarchy has reacted aggressively, handing Roberto De Zerbi a major rebuild and a mandate to ensure the club do not flirt with the drop again.
Six new faces have arrived in north London. Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Martin Dubravka have all come in on free transfers, while Spurs have committed around £237m on Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United, Mateus Fernandes from West Ham and Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton. It is a serious financial statement from a club desperate to reset its trajectory.
Rebuild Focus
The next phase of that rebuild is aimed higher up the pitch. Tottenham are scouring the market for wide forwards, with Manchester City’s Savinho and Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo high on their list of targets as they look to inject pace and end product into De Zerbi’s front line.
But to fund and balance such a sweeping overhaul, departures were always inevitable. Romero, a cornerstone of the defence and a full Argentina international, has become one of the most high-profile names on the potential exit list.
Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano has reported that Inter Milan are pushing hard. He wrote on X that the Serie A champions are “expected to make final decision soon” on Romero, before expanding on his YouTube channel that “there could be movement around Romero in the next days, eventually weeks,” and that he still expects the centre-back to leave Tottenham in this window.
The pressure finally told in Italy. Corriere dello Sport, relayed by Sport Witness, now claims Romero has given the green light to a move to Inter, agreeing a contract worth €5.5m per year running until 2031. Inter, for their part, are reported to have reached an agreement with Spurs on a deal worth €35m plus €5m in bonuses, with a “verbally sealed” three-way understanding in place for the defender.
For a club that has just spent heavily to protect itself from another relegation scare, losing its most senior centre-back would be a bold, perhaps risky, twist in the story of this window.
And the unsettled mood does not stop at the back.
Pape Matar Sarr, once seen as a key piece of Tottenham’s midfield future, now finds himself squeezed by the arrivals of Tonali and Fernandes. Minutes will be harder to come by. His status has shifted from emerging starter to expendable asset.
According to Football Insider, Sarr is “looking to leave” before the transfer window closes, with Aston Villa among the clubs monitoring his situation. Tottenham are understood to be open to letting the 23-year-old move on if the right offer arrives, with De Zerbi said to be satisfied with the depth he already has in midfield.
Villa are not alone in their admiration. The report notes they are one of several sides keen on the Senegal international and could step up their interest in the final month of the window, when prices harden and squads take shape.
So Tottenham stand at a crossroads. Heavy investment, a new manager, a new spine – and now the likely loss of Romero, with Sarr also edging towards the exit.
The rebuild is real. The question is whether Spurs can afford to lose so much experience and potential in one summer, just a year removed from staring over the relegation cliff.
