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Atletico Madrid sign Cristian Romero from Tottenham

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Atletico Madrid have completed the signing of Cristian Romero from Tottenham Hotspur.

The Argentina international, 28, moves to the Spanish capital in a deal worth in the region of €40million (£34.1m; $46m).

He has signed a long-term contract with Atletico while Spurs hold a 15 per cent sell-on fee.

Romero was a key figure in helping the club end their 17-year trophy drought with the Europa League win in 2025, with his central defensive partnership with Micky van de Ven crucial, especially in the knockout stages.

He was also frequently a target for criticism for supporters, however, with his perceived proneness to injury and poor disciplinary record — six red cards in five years — particular issues.

Despite being club captain he was nearly not present for the final league match of the season in May, a game which decided the club’s Premier League status, before he ultimately returned from his native Argentina in time to attend.

Romero joined Spurs from Atalanta in the summer of 2021, initially on loan before making the move permanent a year later for €53m. He made 123 Premier League appearances in total for the club.

Spurs have already moved to bolster the middle of their backline this summer with Marco Senesi joining on a free transfer from Bournemouth and Jan Paul van Hecke arriving from Brighton & Hove Albion in a £52m deal.


What legacy does he leave at Tottenham?

This is probably the best possible outcome for Spurs.

It has been apparent for a long time that they needed to move on from Romero and, crucially, they have agreed to sell him to Atletico before the new season starts.

If the defender had returned to first-team training following an extended break after his involvement with Argentina at the World Cup, the uncertainty around his future would have been an unwelcome distraction. Atletico have been courting Romero for over a year and are a far better option than the prospect of selling him to rivals Arsenal.

Some people will be wondering why Spurs could not command a bigger fee for their captain who only signed a new long-term contract last year and has won multiple trophies at international level. The 28-year-old’s injury history and poor disciplinary record would have worked against Spurs during negotiations.

Romero playing for Tottenham in January 2026

Romero made 123 Premier League appearances for the club. (Michael Steele via Getty Images)

Romero leaves a complicated legacy behind in north London. Romero’s centre-back partnership with Micky van de Ven was crucial to Spurs winning the Europa League in the 2024-25 season, which was their first piece of silverware in 17 years.

Romero was nearly faultless in the knockout stages of the competition and rallied his team-mates at half-time in the final against Manchester United. Over the last 12 months, he has popped up with some crucial goals, including an overhead kick in stoppage time to rescue a point against Newcastle United.

However, there have been six red cards since he initially joined them on loan from Atalanta in August 2021 which is more than any other Premier League player in that period, while he criticised the club’s senior figures on multiple occasions via social media.

Spurs have already moved on by buying Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton earlier this summer. Romero’s dramatic five-year spell with Spurs is over.

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Makhachev vs Machado Garry: UFC 330 predictions from Aspinall, St-Pierre, O’Malley, Moreno, Prates and more

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Islam Makhachev makes the first defence of his welterweight title against Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330 in Philadelphia on Saturday.

There’s also a title on the line in the co-main event when Mackenzie Dern defends her strawweight belt against Gillian Robertson.

Both fighters weighed 170lb (12st 2lb) for the contest, with Machado Garry telling booing fans they “should be grateful” about watching “two of the biggest fighters ever in this sport”.

Former lightweight world champion Makhachev is looking to break Anderson Silva’s record (16) for the longest win streak in UFC history.

The 34-year-old Russian described Machado Garry as his “next target” at the weigh-ins, before telling supporters he is “ready to make all people happy” with victory.

Machado Garry, 28, has won 10 of his 11 fights since making his UFC debut in 2021, with his sole loss coming against Shavkat Rakhmonov.

The Irishman, who holds an overall record of 17 wins and one defeat, is aiming to become just the second man to defeat pound-for-pound great Makhachev.

Can Makhachev make history by claiming a 17th successive win? Or will Machado Garry pull off an upset?

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BBC Sport quiz: Who am I? Guess Premier League footballer No 26

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Welcome to our Who am I? game.

The rules are simple. Each day there’s a new footballer and the challenge is to guess who they are in as few attempts as possible.

After each wrong guess you unlock a new clue. The fewer clues you need to get the right answer, the more points you score.

Three is a good score, four or five points is exceptional.

So take part and return for more tomorrow.

Today’s player and clues set by BBC Sport’s Flora Snelson.

After more quizzes? Go to our dedicated Football Quizzes and Sports Quizzes pages and sign up for notifications to get the latest quizzes sent straight to your device.

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Red Bull Salzburg: I made the right decision – Danny Rohl on swapping Rangers for Salzburg

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Derek McInnes – who took Hearts to the brink of the title only to lose out on the final day to Celtic – replaced Rohl.

After Thursday’s Europa League exit to Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok, McInnes has now failed to win his opening four games.

Rohl, speaking before that defeat, says: “Consistency, this is the most important thing. The environment is really demanding.

“Everyone who goes there, it doesn’t matter if it’s a manager, a player, a staff member, you have to understand this club is demanding and this creates a lot of pressure on people to make the right decisions.

“Nobody can prepare [for] this step. I cannot speak for the new manager but you can’t prepare. You have to be there and if you are there, then you really feel what it means.”

Rohl is focused and settled in Austria, returning to Salzburg after starting his coaching career at RB Leipzig under Ralph Hassenhuttl, before following him to Southampton.

He joins with Salzburg having failed to lift the Austrian Bundesliga title for the past three seasons – after winning the previous 10 in a row. They finished third last season.

Rohl’s move to Austria continues his history of bold career choices.

“This is the main part of my character, be brave. In the last three years I always pushed the limit,” says Rohl, who describes saving Sheffield Wednesday from relegation in 2023-24 as a miracle.

“I want to win titles and, after the season, I will measure myself on this result.

“When you take over, the main part is winning titles, the cup and the league and in the last few years we couldn’t win this as a club, this is one big goal.

“The second is of course developing young players.”

Lucas Gourna-Douath is the latest, the midfielder close to joining Hull, but a recent list underlines the quality of the production line at Taxham.

Karim Adeyemi moved to Borussia Dortmund in 2022 and joined Barcelona this summer while Erling Haaland’s season at the club in 2019-20 gave him the platform to join Borussia Dortmund. Sadio Mane, Dayot Upamecano and Dominik Szoboszlai are all alumni.

Former Bayern Munich and Germany coach Rohl adds: “Ten years ago we were the model for other clubs and now you see more and more on the market have this multi-club ownership and this is also now a competition for us.

“I want to win titles, develop young players, be attractive and I want to bring Salzburg back into the light in Europe.”

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