"Who doesn't want to stay in Tottenham, who is not happy, is not proud to stay here — has to leave." Roberto De Zerbi said it plainly at the start of his tenure, and now he's following through. Cristian Romero is heading to Atletico Madrid for £34 million. Djed Spence is off to Inter Milan for £27 million. Both deals are done on terms that would make Daniel Levy wince.
The fees are modest by any Premier League measure. Romero's £34m is £16m less than Spurs received from Brighton for 19-year-old Luka Vuskovic — a player who hasn't made a single Premier League appearance. It also falls £18m short of what Tottenham paid for Jan Paul van Hecke, who arrived with just 11 months left on his contract. Spence's £27m valuation barely clears what Spurs originally shelled out to Middlesbrough for him back in 2022, despite three additional years of development and a World Cup on his CV.
The Premier League bubble hits sellers hardest
This is what happens when English clubs buy from each other at inflated rates and then try to sell abroad. European clubs know exactly what Spurs are worth when they're the ones doing the selling. The leverage evaporates. The fees crater. Romero's replacement cost more than Romero himself.
Still, De Zerbi seems unbothered — or at least clear-eyed about it. He told players at the beginning of pre-season: help me keep Spurs up this year, and I'll help you leave. Romero held up his end. "In his behaviour, his respect, he suffered when he did not play the last game," De Zerbi said. "Romero as a player is one of the best centre-backs in the world, but at the end I said I want to respect the will of the players."
Romero departs as a complicated figure at N17. A World Cup winner, two-time Copa America champion, and Europa League winner — those are the credentials. The problem was availability. Suspensions and injuries consistently cost Spurs the kind of decisive, aggressive defending that set him apart when he was actually on the pitch. At 28, he leaves in his prime, and Atletico are getting genuine value.
Spence's situation is simpler, and harder
Spence's exit is less about desire and more about arithmetic. Pedro Porro is De Zerbi's first-choice right-back — a World Cup champion who rarely misses games and contributes considerably more in attack. Spence would be third-choice on a good day. Inter Milan represent a chance to actually play.
De Zerbi's position on it was characteristically direct: "I would like you to stay. Not 'I want you to stay'. If you don't want to stay, you have to leave." He also made the broader principle clear — players who stay must accept his decisions, on the pitch and off. A discontented player brooding after three games on the bench is a problem he has no patience for.
The exits of Romero and Spence shift Spurs' defensive odds heading into a season without European competition — fewer games, less rotation, higher stakes for every league result. How De Zerbi plugs the gap at centre-back will define whether those modest fees represent smart housekeeping or a worrying net loss of quality. The spending, as he put it, needs to come "strong, fast, quickly."
