Tottenham star Cristian Romero chooses where he will play this season as Arsenal update revealed | OneFootball

According to reports, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have a ‘mutual agreement’ over Cristian Romero not joining the Gunners this summer.

It has felt inevitable for a while that Romero is going to be on the move from Tottenham this summer.

Romero was derailed by injuries during the 2025/26 campaign, but he retains a strong reputation and has been heavily linked with several Premier League and European giants in this window, while Tottenham have signed Jan Paul van Hecke and Marcos Senesi to replace him.

In recent weeks, Atletico Madrid have moved ahead of Inter Milan in the race to sign Romero, but he has also been attracting interest from Arsenal and Barcelona.

Arsenal are in the market for a centre-back to cover for the injured William Saliba, but a report from Football Insider claims the Gunners and arch-rivals Tottenham have now got a ‘mutual agreement’ that a summer move to the Emirates is not possible.

Ex-Premier League chief scout Mick Brown has told the outlet why Arsenal are unlikely to step up their move for Romero.

Brown explained: “It would always have been a surprise to see Romero move to Arsenal,” Brown told Football Insider.

“I’m not convinced it was ever really on the cards, Tottenham would be very reluctant to sell to their rivals, and Arsenal are concerned about how it would look.

“Do they want to sign a centre-back who has been instrumental in back-to-back 17th-placed finishes, and that their rivals are now desperately looking to get rid of? It doesn’t look the best.

“So I think there is sort of a mutual agreement there that this one isn’t going to happen for those reasons, even though Arsenal did show an initial interest in the move.

“I do still expect him to leave Tottenham, but he won’t go to Arsenal now, and I expect they are looking at a number of other targets instead.”

Cristian Romero looks set to join Atletico Madrid

Instead, Romero looks increasingly likely to join Atletico Madrid, with journalist Nicolo Schira reporting on Tuesday morning that his move to the Spanish giants is now at the ‘final stage’.

Schira said on X: ‘Excl. – Cuti #Romero to #AtleticoMadrid from #Tottenham is at the final stage.

‘Contract until 2030 (€6M/year) with the option for 2031. Last details but all the parties involved in the deal are confident to close.’

Now, Spanish outlet Doble Amarilla claims Romero has ‘decided’ that he ‘will play for Atletico Madrid’.

The report claims: ‘Speculation about the future of Cristian ‘Cuti’ Romero is starting to give way to clarity regarding the Argentine defender’s future after his departure from Tottenham Hotspur, and all signs point to Madrid to play for ‘Cholo’ Simeone’s Atlético, after thanking Inter Milan, Barcelona and Arsenal for their interest in recent hours.

‘The Argentine coach’s repeated interest in signing the defender over the last three transfer windows was key to ‘Cuti’ choosing Madrid despite interest from the ‘Gunners’ and ‘Barça’ in acquiring the Scaloneta international.’