Cristian Romero

Ekeke

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For just 16 million euros plus the 2 million loan fee Atalanta will be able to sign him in the summer as part of their agreement. He's been one of the signings of the summer and perhaps the best CB under 23 this season - at least in terms of individual defending statistics with Kounde, Upamacano and Fofana also in that category although playing in stronger leagues.






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Juventus are probably kicking themselves for putting such a low fee in the loan deal because he looks like a titan CB for years to come and could surely have commanded at least 35-40 million euros which would be over double what they're set to receive. He wins almost all of his challenges whilst being aggressive and attempting them at a high frequency which is when its impressive to have a high %. While also being able to use the ball when he has it with 3 assists and some examples above of running with the ball and finding a pass and he scores some headers with a good leap too.
 
Difficult to really judge him because Atalanta play in such an attacking way that he is often massively exposed. I've only seem him play in CL but he looks ok.
 
Would be a very good signing
 
I like him. He is strrong in the air, but also good with the ball. Also not that slow and can play 3 man defensive system well. Not sure how he would do for us if he would get exposed?
 
We play very differently to Atalanta and PL is much faster/less structured than Serie A - genuinely no idea if he'd do well but looks to have the raw attributes at least. Anyone actually watched them enough to know him as a player?
 
Watched the whole match yesterday and he reminded me of VVD. Could be a very stupid comparison but this guy was quality.
 
bond19821982 said:
Watched the whole match yesterday and he reminded me of VVD. Could be a very stupid comparison but this guy was quality.
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He played really well. We all, argentinians, were surprised cause nobody knew who the hell he was.
 
Pocho said:
He played really well. We all, argentinians, were surprised cause nobody knew who the hell he was.
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Well, if you are an Argentinian and if you didn't knew about the one of the best Serie A defenders of the season, then sorry mate - don't know what to say :)
 
Paul_Scholes18 said:
I like him. He is strrong in the air, but also good with the ball. Also not that slow and can play 3 man defensive system well. Not sure how he would do for us if he would get exposed?
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He's played in a back 4 for both Genoa and Atalanta previously as well as with Argentina recently. He's not dependent on a particular system/set of systems.

Anyways, here's a description of Romero that I posted in another thread:
mazhar13 said:
I don't think Juventus expected him to step up the way they did. At Genoa, he had a more limited defensive role and was more focused on clearing balls out of the box as well as stopping shots on goal. At Atalanta, though, he's done way more than just those two things and really showed what he's capable of.

I posted these in the Transfer Tweets thread, but I think it's appropriate for me to post this here:
mazhar13 said:
Other than what's already been mentioned, I can say that he's probably been the best defender in Serie A this season. He was showing potential last season with Genoa, but this season, he's showing what he's all about with Atalanta. I'm surprised that he's not getting more coverage because I can't think of another defender who's been as good as him this season.

He's been the leader of the Atalanta's back 3 at the age of 23. Despite playing beside two not so good defenders, he's been able to hold his own against the various attacking threats that he's had to face. He reads the game very well, puts in strong yet well-timed tackles frequently, and is a very difficult player to get past. His positioning's probably the best out of all defenders in the Serie A, and that's among the likes of Koulibaly, Romagnoli, de Ligt, Chiellini, de Vrij, etc. With someone of his ilk, one would think that he's probably not as physically gifted as some of the other defenders, but that's not the case here. He may not be very tall (1.85m), but he's quick and surprisingly strong, which explains why he's so tough to get past.

His only weakness, and this is a slight one, is that he occasionally tends to get drawn towards the ball, but that only happens when he's dealing with multiple threats by himself. Instead of containing all of the other threats, he sometimes chooses to go in to win the ball out of his faith in his recovery powers and quickness. Keep in mind that he does play in a back 3 in Serie A, and defenders there tend to trust their teammates more than defenders in other leagues. Currently, as Atalanta play a back 4 against Benevento (who are capable of scoring multiple goals), Romero's holding his own, so it's not like he's only good in a back 3 (he also played in a back 4 with Genoa on several occasions).
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mazhar13 said:
His aerial prowess doesn't stick out, but it's not a weakness. He mostly uses his good positioning and sense of awareness for his aerial battles to make up for his lack of size.

EDIT: Overall, I rate him very, very highly, and I'd be ecstatic if United were to actually sign him up.
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At Genoa, he was dealing with lots of crosses into the box and had to contend in aerial battles way more than he has with Atalanta.
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In short, he'd be excellent for us or any team for that matter. He'd look equally good in a Pep team as he would in an Allardyce team.
 
Looks good in the air. Hard to tell how quick he is though, anybody know?

Bit of pace for us is vital me thinks.
 
RUCK4444 said:
Looks good in the air. Hard to tell how quick he is though, anybody know?

Bit of pace for us is vital me thinks.
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He's very quick, surprisingly so, I'd say. There have been many situations where he's had to catch up to someone through on goal and been able to successfully recover consistently.
 
izec said:
I call BS on our interest
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The interest goes as far as scouting and keeping track of him, which basically every other club would do with many talented players. There's no concrete interest beyond that let alone any contacts with either Romero's camp or Atalanta.
 
mazhar13 said:
The interest goes as far as scouting and keeping track of him, which basically every other club would do with many talented players. There's no concrete interest beyond that let alone any contacts with either Romero's camp or Atalanta.
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I meant the 45m bid part. I think we are into Varane for now and monitoring what he is doing with his contract.
 
bond19821982 said:
Well, if you are an Argentinian and if you didn't knew about the one of the best Serie A defenders of the season, then sorry mate - don't know what to say :)
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I believe he almost didn´t play in our league, neither for Argentina, Calcio sucks, so it´s normal that nobody saw him playing.
 
mazhar13 said:
He's very quick, surprisingly so, I'd say. There have been many situations where he's had to catch up to someone through on goal and been able to successfully recover consistently.
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Interesting. Might be one to watch and see how this develops.
 
This one seems realistic to me. Atalanta are a selling club and seemingly easy for us to deal with. €45 million is cheaper than kounde or pau and allows us to get Sancho done. He’s more aggressive than Lindelof and less crazy than Bailly. Champions league experience and one for the future. I can see how he’d fit a profile. It’s not like everyone was clamouring for Bailly or Lindelof either…. I’d love Tapsoba but he’d cost far too much this summer. Is Romero already better than Milenkovic?
 
Ali Dia said:
This one seems realistic to me. Atalanta are a selling club and seemingly easy for us to deal with. €45 million is cheaper than kounde or pau and allows us to get Sancho done. He’s more aggressive than Lindelof and less crazy than Bailly. Champions league experience and one for the future. I can see how he’d fit a profile. It’s not like everyone was clamouring for Bailly or Lindelof either…. I’d love Tapsoba but he’d cost far too much this summer. Is Romero already better than Milenkovic?
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I'd say so, yeah. Romero's a complete defender, whilst Milenkovic has his limitations. Milenkovic, however, started off as a full back, whilst Romero was always a centre back.
 
Ali Dia said:
This one seems realistic to me. Atalanta are a selling club and seemingly easy for us to deal with. €45 million is cheaper than kounde or pau and allows us to get Sancho done. He’s more aggressive than Lindelof and less crazy than Bailly. Champions league experience and one for the future. I can see how he’d fit a profile. It’s not like everyone was clamouring for Bailly or Lindelof either…. I’d love Tapsoba but he’d cost far too much this summer. Is Romero already better than Milenkovic?
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By a mile based on last season
 
Looks Instinctive and aggressive, two attributes I think we need to compliment Maguire.
 
Freak said:
Several outlets reporting we are putting in a bid for him. Seems like a proming center back.

Why is this not in the transfer forum anyway?
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Yeah saw some reports as well. Hope they're true.

This guy looks promising!
 
Freak said:
Several outlets reporting we are putting in a bid for him. Seems like a proming center back.

Why is this not in the transfer forum anyway?
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Because this was a thread created before we were ever linked to him. Transfer forum is for when we might be signing a player
 
Quite surprised if true. Dont really know him well though.

I get that we want a quick and athletic CB. I could also understand that we want an aggressive CB who covers alot of space. A more dominant type than what we have.

However, beside from one game for Argentina, how much have Man Utd seen from him in a two man defence? Sounds like a bit of a risk signing someone who mainly plays RCB in a 343.

Statistically he is hard to judge. Looks like a very proactive defender, but also creates a lot of freekicks. That is what sticks out. His win percentage in duels, that people seem very interested in with regard to Lindelof, is nothing special.
 
I don't have any opinion on the player but you really do have to wonder what the feck Juventus was doing with this guy. They buy him for 26m euro in summer 2019, immediately loan him back to Genoa, then loan him again in summer 2020 for two years to Atalanta with a 16m euro option to buy and a token 2m loan fee. Now Atlanta will exercise that option for sure, probably to sell him on for 45m euros.

In sum, if he does get sold this summer at the rumored price:

-Genoa made 26m euro and got a year of the player
-Atalanta made 27m euro and got a year of the player
-Juventus lost 8m euro for absolutely nothing

Paratici is a genius.
 
Powderfinger said:
I don't have any opinion on the player but you really do have to wonder what the feck Juventus was doing with this guy. They buy him for 26m euro in summer 2019, immediately loan him back to Genoa, then loan him again in summer 2020 for two years to Atalanta with a 16m euro option to buy and a token 2m loan fee. Now Atlanta will exercise that option for sure, probably to sell him on for 45m euros.

In sum, if he does get sold this summer at the rumored price:

-Genoa made 26m euro and got a year of the player
-Atalanta made 27m euro and got a year of the player
-Juventus lost 8m euro for absolutely nothing

Paratici is a genius.
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hope Paratici bring his genius to Spurs meanwhile repaying Juventus by getting Ramsey,Bernardeschi and Dybala!
 
andersj said:
Quite surprised if true. Dont really know him well though.

I get that we want a quick and athletic CB. I could also understand that we want an aggressive CB who covers alot of space. A more dominant type than what we have.

However, beside from one game for Argentina, how much have Man Utd seen from him in a two man defence? Sounds like a bit of a risk signing someone who mainly plays RCB in a 343.

Statistically he is hard to judge. Looks like a very proactive defender, but also creates a lot of freekicks. That is what sticks out. His win percentage in duels, that people seem very interested in with regard to Lindelof, is nothing special.
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Quick and aggressive... like Bailly :) ? I guess it is hard to combine aggression and not giving away freekicks. Ramos is another example with his 35 (?) red cards.

The best CBs are those who dominate with outstanding physique, such as van Dijk. Proactive and make it look so easy.
 
Only watched one of his games. The recent Coppa Italia Final against Juventus.

Style-wise he reminded me very much of Marcus Rojo. Only not as reckless...
 
Powderfinger said:
I don't have any opinion on the player but you really do have to wonder what the feck Juventus was doing with this guy. They buy him for 26m euro in summer 2019, immediately loan him back to Genoa, then loan him again in summer 2020 for two years to Atalanta with a 16m euro option to buy and a token 2m loan fee. Now Atlanta will exercise that option for sure, probably to sell him on for 45m euros.

In sum, if he does get sold this summer at the rumored price:

-Genoa made 26m euro and got a year of the player
-Atalanta made 27m euro and got a year of the player
-Juventus lost 8m euro for absolutely nothing

Paratici is a genius.
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Italian clubs are partial to a bit of creative book-keeping.

Nonsensical swap deals, co-ownerships, loaning players out endlessly, selling to other clubs for less than a player’s worth. Probably one of those deals.
 
Gopher Brown said:
Italian clubs are partial to a bit of creative book-keeping.

Nonsensical swap deals, co-ownerships, loaning players out endlessly, selling to other clubs for less than a player’s worth. Probably one of those deals.
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Definitely could be. Juventus has been the king of that kind of creative bookkeeping too.
 
Gopher Brown said:
Italian clubs are partial to a bit of creative book-keeping.

Nonsensical swap deals, co-ownerships, loaning players out endlessly, selling to other clubs for less than a player’s worth. Probably one of those deals.
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Btw Rojo is injured, again. :lol:
 
andersj said:
However, beside from one game for Argentina, how much have Man Utd seen from him in a two man defence? Sounds like a bit of a risk signing someone who mainly plays RCB in a 343.
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He plays as a CB in Atalanta's 3-4-3. Rafael Toloi's typically their RCB. also, he's played in a back 4 in Genoa and done very well, and he's also played in a back 4 for Atalanta as an RCB.
 
I'd be very wary of signing a CB off atalanta honestly, unless it's leeds doing it

He's a great 1on1 defender in Italy, but there's little to judge him by beyond that because, atalanta...

He should be great at man marking in general, even in a more "normal" zone/man hybrid system which every club bar leeds and atalanta use these days, and he's very aggressive, quite fast and good in the air, as well fairly comfortable on the ball

1on1 ability though is one of the biggest points of divergence between the PL and the rest. Difficult to say he'd be equally good at it in PL...
 
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