Nuno’s Spurs signing is now shining & worth more than Maddison

It’s there, tantalising Ange Postecoglou and the Tottenham Hotspur faithful, but Champions League qualification lingers just out of reach at the moment.

After 26 matches, Spurs perch in fifth place in the Premier League and while Aston Villa boast a five-point advantage in the top four, Postecoglou’s side have a game in hand after their fixture against Chelsea was postponed over a week ago.

Of course, the new reshaped Champions League that calls for a sit-down and gathering of thoughts has opened up the possibility of a fifth spot, determined by a nation’s coefficient ranking.

It’s all rather confusing, but Postecoglou will have drilled one message into his players: leapfrog Villa and avoid any sense of doubt.

And despite enduring something of a tumultuous campaign so far, laden with injuries and setbacks, the club has come together under new management with fresh polish and knitted togetherness, the likes of James Maddison, Micky van de Ven and Guglielmo Vicario so influential after joining last summer.

These enlivening figures have rekindled stars such as Heung-min Son and Yves Bissouma but one player who stands out above all others is Cristian Romero, who has been sensational this season and whose place in the team will be integral for any future success.

Cristian Romero’s market value when he signed for Spurs

Romero arrived on English shores back in 2021 when nondescript Tottenham manager Nuno Espirito Santo secured the Argentine’s signature from Atalanta for £42m following the departure of Toby Alderweireld.

He’d been a defensive centrepiece for La Dea and had showcased his robust approach during his final Serie A season, averaging 3.1 interceptions, two tackles, 2.2 clearances and 6.9 successful duels per fixture, as per Sofascore, leading talent scout Jacek Kulig to hail him a “top-class defender.”

Romero’s combative style has made him a frightening adversary for opposing forwards and while he might be a little overzealous in the challenge sometimes, there’s no doubting his quality as one of the finest that English football has to offer.

An unrelenting intensity, never-say-die attitude and wilting aggressiveness made Romero the archetype for prosperity on English shores, and while his maiden term in the Premier League was punctuated by injuries, he demonstrated his skills and averaged 2.8 tackles and 3.3 clearances per game, winning 62% of his duels and completing 87% of his passes.

It was a sign of brighter things to come, with Romero thriving despite Nuno’s dismissal just 17 matches into his Tottenham tenure and leading Antonio Conte’s project to a fourth-place finish, pipping heated rivals Arsenal.

However, it’s hard to place a case that the 25-year-old was at the top of his game last year, shown the violent glare of the red card in both the Premier League and Champions League and part of a Lilywhites defence that shipped a shocking 63 goals in the top-flight.

He did conquer the globe at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, to be fair, completing 90% of his passes and averaging 3.3 clearances per outing as Argentina secured the trophy.

Now, under Postecoglou’s guidance, Romero is starting to bloom as one of the very best centre-halves in the business, and while he’s not without his flaws there is no question that alongside Van de Ven Tottenham have a defensive axis for the ages. Long may it last.

Cristian Romero’s valuation in 2024

Without question, Postecoglou has built something promising from the rubble of the 2022/23 campaign, where an eighth-placed Premier League finish led to Harry Kane’s sale to Bayern Munich and a dead end as far as a pathway into continental competition is concerned.

It would take a dramatic breakdown for Tottenham to miss out on European football entirely next year, eight points clear of seventh-placed West Ham United (with a game in hand), and with Romero performing at the level he is at present, sights are bound to be focussed upward.

Now valued at £51m by CIES Football Observatory’s valuation model, Romero’s market price might not have shot up drastically but this does not aptly portray his quality, with legendary compatriot Lionel Messi even remarking that he is “the best defender in the world right now” after one first-rate performance on the international stage in 2023.

That valuation even places the dominant titan ahead of the aforementioned Maddison, with the Englishman – who signed from Leicester City City over the summer – valued at around £43m, according to the same source.

With the playmaker dazzling in his debut campaign at N17 – scoring three times and contributing to eight assists in the Premier League thus far – it says a lot that Romero is still deemed to be more valuable than the Coventry-born sensation.

His metrics in the Premier League this season are truly astounding and if Tottenham are to prevail in their endeavours across the closing months of the campaign, the £165k-per-week titan is bound to be at the heart of it.

Moreover, as per FBref, Romero ranks among the top 4% of central defenders across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for goals scored, the top 15% for shot-creating actions, the top 12% for pass completion and progressive passes, the top 10% for tackles, the top 14% for interceptions and the top 11% for blocks per 90.

It’s quite the skill set, with such dynamism and roundedness that perhaps Messi’s overeffusive praise might just have some merit, with few teams across the continent – if any – turning their nose up at the opportunity to secure the 6 foot 1 colossus’ services.

Ultimately, Romero is an indispensable member of Tottenham’s team and, contracted until 2027, it would take a mammoth proposal to prise him away from the club, though it is worth noting that Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid have noted his progress earlier this year.

While £42m was quite a lofty figure for a player whose potential was somewhat indeterminate, Romero is now at the top of his game and Spurs must thank the stars that they pushed ahead with a deal in 2021.