It's no surprise to see why Lionel Messi was so desperate for Barcelona to make a move for Cristian Romero last summer. Outstanding in his time on loan at Atalanta and deservedly winning the Serie A Defender of the Year gong, the Argentina international was destined for bigger and better things.
With Tottenham on course to secure his signature, reports suggested that Messi was pushing the Spanish club to spring into action and sign him before he headed to north London. In the end, it was Spurs who won the race for the talented 24-year-old, and now Romero is showing everyone why exactly Fabio Paratici was so intent on luring him to Tottenham.
Signed on a season-long loan deal from Atalanta with an option - not obligation - to buy for £42.5million, the Lilywhites will complete the permanent signing this summer. His move is expected to be a mere formality, hence why a five-year contract was announced when he joined the club at the start of last August.
READ MORE: Tottenham player ratings: Cristian Romero a colossus, Son simply sublime and Kulusevski inspired
Making such a difference to Antonio Conte's Tottenham XI since returning in February from a three-month absence due to a hamstring injury, Romero has delivered a number of towering displays. His latest came on Sunday afternoon in the team's 3-1 victory over Leicester City.
Alert early on to produce a sublime clearance as he came from nowhere to cut out Marc Albrighton's pass across the face of goal after a Ben Davies error, the player then made a rare mistake of his own not long after. Selling Eric Dier short with a pass inside his own box, he needed his teammate to react quickly and clear the ball away from danger before it was intercepted in such a good position.
Conte was not impressed by the incident but Romero recovered to deliver a defensive masterclass after that rare blip. He was near faultless as he made tackle after tackle, interceptions and clearances and he even had the time to help out Spurs in the final third as he regularly looked to push on.
His biggest contribution came on the hour mark as he played a major role in Son Heung-min's first of the game. Already coming out on top in one tackle, he then did likewise in a big 50-50 with Caglar Soyuncu.
It was a crunching tackle and the impact of it could be heard right around Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Kasper Schmeichel and a handful of Leicester players made their feelings clear to Jonathan Moss after Son had converted Dejan Kulusevski's pass but their complaints were dismissed.
Despite the protests from his players, Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers had no issue with the challenge and instead admitted he was more concerned about his player not winning the tackle.
"No, no, absolutely not. There was no problem with the tackle," he said in his post-match press conference. "I had a problem with us not winning the tackle. Romero was strong, aggressive and that's what you want from your centre-half."
Playing such a key part in the much-needed victory, fans were raving about Romero's performance long after the final whistle. Conte was happy with what he saw from his player, but instead outlined the importance of the whole team performing well to get three points in the bag.
"He played a good game. I think every single player played very well," said the Italian in his post-match press conference. "For us it's very important to do well with the whole team if we want to get three points.
"It's no good to play with one, two or three players playing well. We need the whole team playing well and to find a good balance. When this happens we can win the game."
Hitting the ground running in the Premier League since his switch from Atalanta and taking Spurs' backline to the next level, Romero is only going to get even better and become one of the best centre-backs in the world in the process. Paratici pulled off a transfer masterclass convincing the player that Spurs was the place for him to be despite their lack of Champions League football and the deal is only going to benefit the club for years to come.
