Tottenham dealt massive transfer blow as Barcelona launch bid to hijack Cristian Romero and Atalanta prepared to sell

BARCELONA are ready to hijack Tottenham bid for Cristian Romero, reports suggest.

That is according to Sportitalia reporter Gianluigi Longari, who claims that Barca made their first bid for Atalanta star Romero on Wednesday.

Longari tweeted yesterday: “#Barcelona for #Romero. Today the first proposal was presented to #Atalanta.

“As anticipated the #Blaugrana are serious for the Argentine defender who is also highly requested by #Tottenham.”

That is a significant blow for Spurs, who are on the lookout for a highly-rated defender to replace Toby Alderweireld.

Alderweireld has left the North Londoners after six years of immense contribution and joined Al-Duhail.

Tottenham are now hoping to replace the Belgium international with Romero as the club’s new technical director Fabio Paratici is looking to rebuild the squad

Chairman Daniel Levy has reportedly made a £42million offer for the centre-back.

However, this figure is still far off Atalanta’s £51m asking price for the 23-year-old, whose stock rose after helping Argentina win this summer’s Copa America.

Barcelona are expected to have the same problem as they are dealing with a financial mess due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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That means the Blaugrana will have to offload some players first in order to balance the books.

Romero joined Atalanta on loan from Juventus last year on a two-year deal with an option to buy for around £14m.

The Dea are set to trigger the Argentine’s release clause and sell him immediately for a significant profit.

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