Tottenham are at last beginning to resemble a genuinely serious club again — and there is clear evidence of it.

Roberto De Zerbi. One step. Winning the race to sign Mateus Fernandes. Another step. Splitting up Newcastle United’s midfield with a bold move for Sandro Tonali. Another.

Tottenham Hotspur have taken three major strides away from the lowest point of their banter era — namely successive 17th-place finishes in the Premier League, a scar that, at times, even Europa League glory could not fully heal.

Yet one episode this summer threatened to drag them straight back towards that unflattering old version of themselves.

That was, of course, the suggested transfer of Cristian Romero to bitter rivals Arsenal.

The Argentine centre-back, while plainly one of the most talented players Spurs have had during these difficult years, had for some time also been a source of frustration for the club away from the pitch.

Spurs supporters did not mind some of the sharper edges of the defender’s personality, especially because he never seemed afraid to challenge those above him at the club. But when he was absent for the Lilywhites’ relegation-decider against Everton at the end of last season, much of that goodwill quickly disappeared. From that point, the signs were obvious.

A split had been hinted at for a while, but that one explosive transfer link to the other side of north London threatened to cut deeply into Spurs’ already fragile reputation.

It is not even that Romero would necessarily have transformed a rival. In truth, he might well have found it difficult to break up the Gabriel-Saliba pairing in the Gunners’ defence, depending on the latter’s fitness.

Football is a field, 22 players and a ball being chased around. But in the modern era, with the enormous money involved, it is also a sport driven by pride and ego.

People within the game may try to rise above that uncomfortable reality, but it remains a reality. These things matter. They shape the way a club sees itself.

Luis Figo. Ashley Cole. S*l C******l.

Transfers like these end up defining not just the career of the player involved, but whole periods in the history of clubs and the cities they represent.

Joan Gaspart, who was Barcelona president when Figo made his move, said it “destroyed” the club. And that is Barcelona.

Trying desperately to protect the club’s image in the middle of the backlash, the former executive later admitted he rushed to bring in replacements.

It failed. The Catalan side did not win another major trophy for the next five years, with LaLiga only returning to Camp Nou in 2004/05.

Five years. An entire prime stretch of a footballer’s career wiped away by one transfer. That is how harmful these moves can be.

Now, it would be an exaggeration to say Romero turning up at the Emirates would have been anywhere close to as earth-shaking as Figo’s transfer — there was never any need for panic on that scale in the English capital — but the wider point stands: history shows this is the kind of situation clubs should avoid at all costs.

Fortunately for Tottenham, those in charge appeared to understand that, with serious talks seemingly never entertained. Every report came with the same caveat: they would not even engage in the conversation.

When the story rolled across the Sky Sports News ticker, it looked for a moment as though it might drag Spurs’ recent progress down with it. Instead, this colder, more hard-nosed version of Tottenham let the drama die almost as soon as it began.

It was then replaced by news that Romero was heading to the city that staged the Figo scandal 26 years earlier — Madrid. Only for the 28-year-old, it was Atletico rather than Real.

It looks an ideal fit. Romero should feel perfectly at ease under Atletico’s iconic Argentine manager Diego Simeone and among his disciples of the Dark Arts — a fitting outcome for everyone involved, even if the defender’s departure from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium did little to help his standing in N17.

What might once have knocked Tottenham badly off course has instead passed without leaving a mark, and their train of progress keeps moving forward.

Spurs have looked serious and decisive this summer. And this time, they may actually mean it.