Why Cristian Romero to Man Utd was always a nonsense transfer link… | OneFootball

Occasionally, a transfer link surfaces that makes no sense whatsoever, a nonsense for all parties involved. A classic of the genre is Manchester United moving for Cristian Romero.

It was claimed on Monday evening in Romero’s native Argentina that the Red Devils want to sign the Tottenham Hotspur captain and they were preparing to submit an offer.

By Tuesday, United were letting it be known that it’s all news to them.

Of course it is.

Firstly, United don’t need a central defender this summer.

Sure, they could improve their centre-back options. Among Harry Maguire, Matthijs De Ligt, Lisandro Martinez, Leny Yoro, and Ayden Heaven, for reasons of fitness, age or experience, there is neither an individual nor a partnership that Michael Carrick can identify as the cornerstone of his team.

The United boss will be hoping that changes this season; that De Ligt recovers fully and promptly; that Martinez too can stay off the treatment table for long enough to make more than his average of 16 Premier League starts; that Yoro’s form more closely mirrors the potential he was bought for; and that Heaven continues the encouraging progress he has made during sporadic runs in the team.

Maguire is the most trustworthy of Carrick’s centre-backs but he is likely entering the final season of his United career.

All that said, perhaps United could use a centre-back after all. But not at the expense of their other priorities. Carrick ought to be able to mend and make do for another year with his current centre-back options.

But if he was looking to add another this summer, it would surely be one more reliable than Romero.

The Spurs skipper can be a very fine defender when him and his team aren’t suffering the consequences of his all-too-regular brain farts. Perhaps it is harsh to make Romero the face of Tottenham’s failures in recent seasons, but the captain certainly makes the poster. Assuming he hasn’t flown back to Argentina on the day of the shoot.

United already have too many defenders too often unavailable. Through injury and suspension, Romero has missed an average of 16 games a season through the five campaigns he has fought with Spurs.

The United of old might have been lured by the streaks of form Romero has strung together in the Premier League, but it seems the Red Devils have recovered a modicum of competence in the transfer market of late.

A factor in that is perhaps the ‘no-dickheads’ policy that United adopted at a time when they couldn’t move for them. Mercifully for Carrick, most have now been thrust through the exit door and there is now serenity about the dressing room at Old Trafford.

It can be a counterproductive policy because, very occasionally, a dickhead becomes available who might be worth the potential grief.

Does Romero fall into that category? Nope.

In any case, why would Romero want to join United? If he is to leave Spurs – they are certainly trying to phase him out – then why would he want to stick around in a league where the referees have got his number?

Okay, aside from the Premier League money, why would Romero seek to stay where the perception of him would be so hard to shift? Recent links with Atletico Madrid are almost too perfect.

Perhaps the absence of intent from Atletico or anyone else at this early stage of the summer is what has prompted the United links; we assume they were fed to the Argentinian media from the player’s camp in an effort to generate some noise. You can’t blame them; putting a player in the same story as United is the oldest tactic in the grubby agents’ handbook.

But it’s an old and tired trope. There are plenty of clubs Romero’s reps could have used to manufacture a more credible link; maybe try Chelsea next time.