4 hours ago
33
One of Cristian Romero’s former teammates has given his opinion on the Tottenham defender and his feelings are pretty clear.
Cristian Romero is off to a good start this season, conceding one goal in three Premier League matches. He was awarded a 7.6 rating on Fotmob for his display against Manchester City last month and scored even higher against Venezuela during the international break.
The key for Romero this season is to stay fit. He has been given the captain’s armband on a permanent basis due to the departure of Heung-min Son. However, he needs to avoid getting injured if he is to wear it throughout the season.
Romero suffered injuries to his ankle, toe and hamstring during the last campaign, causing him to miss most of December and the whole of January and February.
Papu Gomez praises ‘extraordinary’ Cristian Romero
Tottenham Hotspur know exactly what kind of player Romero can be when he is available and so does Papu Gomez. The Argentine forward played alongside Romero for their national team and they also played together at Atalanta. Gomez has revealed that he has always admired the Spurs captain, describing him as ‘amazing’.
He told Julian Polo: “I’ve never seen anything like Cristian Romero, he’s extraordinary. We were really surprised. From the first day we said: ‘wow, this guy is amazing.’
“I remember Scaloni was looking for a left-footed center back and he came to watch José Luis Palomino at Atalanta, who was playing with me. He comes, talks to me, and says: ‘Papu, we’re looking for a center back.’ And I tell him: ‘take Cuti’.”
“I remember telling him: ‘take Cuti because he’s amazing, and with Gasperini he’s only going to get better.’ In the end, Scaloni called me first, and then a few call-ups later he brought in Cuti, who Samuel and Ayala were already following.
“I always teased Romero. We played against Roma and I told him: ‘today you face Dzeko, you won’t touch the ball, Dzeko will eat you alive.’ And he replied: ‘oh yeah? We’ll see.’ And in the end, Dzeko didn’t touch the ball.
“Another time against Inter, with Lukaku and Lautaro, I told him: ‘do you know the dance they’re going to give you today?’ And he answered: ‘today I’ll destroy both of them.’ And that’s what happened: they didn’t touch the ball.
“He has character, personality, and later he improved even more in many aspects. But the mentality, he already had it inside him. What came next was just polishing the technique, the details. He’s sharp, aggressive… impressive.”
Romero could have his biggest season yet at Tottenham
Plenty of players in the Tottenham first-team squad will be looking to prove themselves and while Romero is an established starter, he still has work to do.
The 27-year-old is now the club captain and he must show he is up to the challenge. It is certainly not an easy role to fulfil, as Son learned during the difficulties Tottenham encountered last season.
Once the campaign is over, Romero will then travel to the United States as Argentina look to defend their title at the World Cup.
There is plenty of responsibility at the feet of Romero, but as Gomez said, he has kept improving over the years and has what it takes to keep impressing for both his club and country.
READ MORE – Thomas Frank reveals whether he has decided on his Tottenham leadership group
Have something to tell us about this article?
English (US) ·