Tottenham have endured a chaotic summer. A struggle to find Jose Mourinho's long-term successor as manager, doubts over Harry Kane's future and protests towards owner Daniel Levy has made things toxic in north London.
But pre-season matters are looking up for Spurs, who now have Nuno Espirito Santo as their new head coach and the club are starting to pull in transfers once again.
After securing deals for young winger Bryan Gil and goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini, the north London club are close to agreeing a deal for Juventus defender Cristian Romero, who has spent the last two seasons on loan at Atalanta and Genoa.
Tottenham are close to securing a deal for Atalanta's Cristian Romero in a £46.9million deal
Spurs head coach Nuno Espirito Santo is set to bring in a key defensive addition to the club
As Sportsmail revealed this week, Spurs are closing to landing their top centre-back target for just under £47million, after Atalanta accepted a deal to cut his loan contract early.
With Romero now heading to London to secure his Tottenham future, Sportsmail looks at why Spurs rate him so highly and what he will bring to the Premier League this season...
WHO IS CRISTIAN ROMERO?
Growing up in the Argentinian city of Cordoba, Romero came through the youth ranks at local side Belgrano but was eased into first-team football in South America.
The teenage defender made his debut as an 18-year-old in 2016 but only featured 19 times in two years playing in the first-team for the Argentinian top-flight side.
After starting his career in his native Argentina, Romero joined Genoa in a £4m deal in 2018
Despite the lack of game time, he did enough to secure a move to Europe in 2018 and joined Serie A club Genoa for just under £4million. Here, he got his first real taste of a full professional season, featuring 27 times in his debut season.
Romero's displays in Italy then caught the eye of champions Juventus, who forked out £22million to get him on the books after just one season in Europe. He was immediately loaned back to Genoa but it showed that former Old Lady sporting director and current Spurs transfer chief Fabio Paratici took a liking to him.
After one season back at Genoa, Juventus decided to put him out on loan again - this time to Atalanta on a two-year contract where he managed to pick up Champions League experience with Gian Piero Gasperini's side.
Romero then caught Juventus' eye but was loaned out to Atalanta for two seasons last year
The 23-year-old played in all but one of Atalanta's European campaign, with their best result being a 2-0 victory away at Liverpool, where Romero helped the Italian side keep a clean sheet at Anfield.
Domestically, he guided Atalanta to a third-place finish - thereby securing another season of Champions League football for Gasperini's side - while the club also reached the Italian Cup final but Romero's side lost 2-1 to Juventus.
But the biggest
