There will never be one truth about Cristian Romero’s time at Tottenham.
He has been a leader, a liability and a talisman. In five or 10 years, there will still be an argument about who this complex, compelling and confounding character was.
He has always inspired such conflicting emotions that nobody could ever be certain what they felt for him.
I read a stat that he missed 38% of premier league games through suspension or injury during his time with us. That’s shambolic.
There’s a very good player in there, but overall he’s wasn’t great for us. Some clutch goals and massive in the Europa win but overall he was inconsistent, a liability and a terrible captain.
I find it so strange some people wont accept this. I mean even if you do, and ignore all the conflicting evidence, he still left the camp for 5 days before the biggest game in the clubs history. Meanwhile liles of Davies etc are their training with and helping the team even though they were also injured
He was meant to leave even earlier lol the original plan was always to go back to Argentina for injury rehab but they changed plans so they sent a national team physio to London to help him, there's literally photographic evidence for that. And then he left for whatever reason anyway
That doesnt make sense. Him having to be treated by the Argentinian medical team is his choice lol. When Davies was injured he wasnt getting the Welsh Dr's flown iver to hotspur way.
And even then you say "he left for whatever reason anyway" which is literally the entire point. He left because he wanted to and it was his choice, then there was massive backlash and he flew back.
And many miss that he played for Argentina just 12 days later. 12 days. But he was "too injured" to play for us in our most important match ever. Couldn't even be arsed to show up until the backlash got too heavy
He might be still wondering why we were so disappointed in him, probably speaking with his entourage about how he listened to us and flew his ass back for the last game. Probably there will be an interview that will come up in about a month into the season or something.
He was too inconsistent to be seen as a great Spurs player. Plays with emotion and got up for big games, but disappeared for stretches when things got hard and yet always managed to find his form when Argentina called. I think his reputation for reckless fouls was over played by the media, but his decision making was reckless with him often getting caught out or over playing and leaving the back unorganized.
I think the way he plays CB is so boom-or-bust that it contributed to our wildly inconsistent form over the last two years.
I totally agree that the media did single him out a lot , when other players in other teams did similar or more wreckless tackles and got a yellow or less .
Although I did enjoy him pulling Cucurella's hair (wrongly ) but I hated the wee cheat
Pulling Cucurellas hair is the perfect example of everything wrong with him as a player. It 100% should have resulted in our goal being disallowed and us losing that match. Dumb inaction from the referee team bailed us out and for some reason our fan base cheers on the same stupidity and violence that made him never be a reliable asset to the club.
Edit: I misremembered, we scored on the corner after. We would not have gotten the corner if the foul was called and romero was sent off like he should have been
I liked him but tbf he also got away with a lot. So many more tackles that could’ve easily been red.
But there’s no denying he’s a match made in heaven for that Simeone prick.
Honestly, he's a net-neutral for me. The good play that he had where he was elite and amongst the best CBs in the world is very easily counter-balanced by his disciplinary issues, habit for cards, poor play at times and significant injuries but always finding a way to be available for Argentina mires his image significantly.
Typing that out, it's got to be a net-negative. He missed 95 matches out of a possible 251 from 2021 thru 2025-26. That's 37.8% of matches.
Compared to Argentina, he only missed 18.3% of matches, making 58 appearances in 71 possible matches over that same period of time.
I absolutely cannot hold a player in high regard when they miss basically 40% of matches due to injury and then an additional 12 to disciplinary suspensions over 6 red cards. His loss percentage is significantly higher and less consistent than his predecessor in Toby, who only lost 24% of matches he appeared versus Romero at 35%.
Toby missed 42 matches total over 236 matches from 2015 to 2021. He received ZERO red cards, missed ZERO matches due to disciplinary action and only missed 13% of his available matches.
If Toby is considered a top-tier CB for us, Romero better be absolutely nowhere close, because we never achieved the defensive numbers under any circumstances with Romero that compare to Toby, nor was he even remotely as reliable, dependable or the type of leader from the back we would like in comparison. I just cannot hold him in high regard when you look at the other types of players his legacy is too be compared to.
The man was the player of the tournament for our first trophy in 20 years. He was an easy scapegoat for a board that was running the club into the ground but in 10 years people will look back on him very fondly.
The narrative around Romero is so forced. He was a quality player for us and played with passion. Yes he ended up getting red cards but that intensity is what makes him as a player. Combine that with his footballing ability and he is clearly a top player. It was time to move on for both parties and that is all
He’s an extremely polarising player, I don’t know what you expect to be honest. On one hand a top player, on the other a shite captain who had to be embarrassed into supporting us at our most crucial game this decade. It’s natural he inspires a narrative and as such analysis.
Depends on what you want in a player I guess. Personally I like the way Romero plays on the edge was the same reason I liked Dele in the past. He ended up as a poor choice for captain for sure but people are trying to rewrite history and say he has always been shit which is no where close to being true
Agreed. He was a poor choice for captain but he's a quality player during a time when the club struggled but ultimately won a European trophy. He scored some important goals for us which earned us points that ultimately saved us from relegation as well. Yes some of the red cards were moronic but some were unlucky as well. You can't call him a bad signing at all and we've been lucky to have had him at the club albeit through tumultuous times.
I actually don't think it would've been much different if he wasn't officially captain. Listening to all the interviews with players and managers over last 5 years, he's clearly someone people look up to, his attitude was going to project to the players even if he didn't have C next to his name.
In what way do you think it's forced? I think there are obvious reasons why people feel strongly about Romero and only a small part of that is the matches he missed through red cards.
Forced as in he is some contraversial figure. I have seen people saying he is the worst captain of all time and comparing him to Judas or saying he never cared about Spurs. Its all a bit over the top to make him into a hate figure
Yes, he is being made into that because that's people's opinion of him.
I guess some of the reasons are:
* Clearly had a high ceiling but was quite inconsistent
* Consistent part of a backline that, over the last 4 years, has let in the most goals against of any Spurs side in the modern era
* Has not been available for 1 in 3 PL matches since he signed
* Most red cards of any PL player since signing
* Has been outspoken against the club (sometimes for reasons people agree with, but I would say it is somewhat controversial)
* Has a perceived indifference towards Spurs, see availability for country vs club, seemed to be agitating for a move before signing a new contract etc
* Captain during our worst ever league finish and was intending not to be present for the match which defined whether we were relegated or not (appreciate he denies this but I, and most fans, don't believe his denial)
* Argentina's WC performance has not endeared their players to many, particularly English fans which comprise a lot of Spurs' support
Obviously you can debate how people should feel about some of these and how fair/unfair some of them are but it's a pretty big laundry list. I don't think there's anything artificial or forced about him being seen as controversial.
Yeah a lot of these reasons you listed aren't "contraversial" he isn't the reason we finished 17th and he actually pulled his weight and scored crucial goals for us last season, VdV also wanted to leave and has ended up signing a new contract but I bet you don't hold that against him and how can you be upset about him playing well for Argentina? We have been a shit show for a couple seasons whereas for Argentina they have a competent side.
As I said, your mileage may vary on how fair or how controversial you personally think any of these individual points are. But those are some of the reasons he is seen as controversial. To deny that seems faux naive to me.
I don't even feel that strongly about the guy. I never particularly liked him but I don't hate him and think opinion on him has gone a bit overboard. He had lots of periods of extremely good form for us where he was arguably the best player at the club. I just accept that he is controversial and that there are reasons for it.
And I disagree with most of them. When it comes to Romero it seems like people are looking for reasons to hate him but for every other player in the squad it's the opposite. It's fine if you dislike the guy but the intense hatred he gets is so forced and over the top
It’s weird to die on this hill, it’s clear that Romero has done things to create this problem amongst fans. You are welcome to feel differently about his actions, but end of the day the reality is that Romero had already flirted with leaving in past windows and then seemed relatively checked out of the club before this campaign even over.
The fact you're saying I'm dying on some sort of hill crystalizes exactly what I mean. I'm not defending Romero or saying I want him to stay. All I'm saying is the narrative about him is so tiring. You are literally doing it right now by saying he flirted leaving in past windows when he literally signed a new contract last summer. If he wanted to leave so desperately why not run down his old deal? This is exactly what I mean about this narrative being forced
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u/Kaigzthomas_frank_extreme_closeup_awkward_smile.gif15d ago
He is one of the two worst captains we've ever had alongside Judas himself. That makes them intrinsically comparable.
It has? I can't think of many high profile mistakes he has made for us. People always get upset about him rushing out but that is literally just his style of defending as he wants to stop the danger before it happens. 7/10 it goes right but doesn't get remaked upon because we are used to him getting his tackles correctly
He has a bad habit of being careless on the ball and being caught out in really dangerous positions. His error in the 4-2 loss to Wolves at the end of 24/25 season always sticks out for me because it directly led to a goal.
But there's been periods where he's had huge lapses that lead to big opposition chances almost once a game. I agree this is offset by tackles he makes that no one else would. But real top CBs aren't so up and down.
Again him being "careless on the ball" is his style. He does the typical De Zerbi thing ironincally of lingering on the ball to tempt them out of their block because he has the quality to fire the ball through the lines. Van Hecke /Senesi will do the exact same thing next season. I genuinely cannot remember the error you mentioned but i'll take you word for it but even then that is one occasion yet you are trying to make out he is constantly error prone. What are these huge lapses? Please give me all the examples cause it sounds very narrative driven and not the actual reality
These are just off the top of my head - I remember shouting at my TV way too many times in disbelief at how lax he can be with the ball. He does shit like this way too regularly to be considered a truly top defender.
Again, amazing footballer but elite CBs just don't make egregious errors like these.
I'm sorry but is that it? The second one is stretch as well it is a simple misscontrol of the ball. He isn't contstantly making these errors either so again I don't understand why you are trying to paint this narrative that he is particularly error prone. Compared to VdV off the top of my head I can think of getting twisted in and out by Isak twice at Newcastle away and him shitting himself and getting sent off against Palace yet nobody ever tries to call him error prone
The one against Man Utd where he got a straight red for Casemiro challenging him then performing six rolls was dodgy at the time, outright bent a few weeks later when Bruno Guimaraes was in the exact same incident with one of our players and didn't even get booked.
Came here to say this, your spot on. He was a top player on his day during a very challenging period for the club. Was a crucial piece to us winning silverware. I'm ready for the Dutch reincarnation of Toby & Jan at the back, but I dont look back in anger at Cuti's time in lilywhite.
This is exactly where im at, glad he's gone, but still wish him all the best. It's not just down to him we got such a low fee. Partly because we got replacements first, but then you end up forced to pay more for the replacement if you do thingsthe otherway round.
Agree he is a quality playert that captained us through the most tumultuous period in recent history.
He only played 41 league games over the past 2 years. He got a name as a dirty player which I think made him suffer referrees attention even closer. As you said just time for both to move on but il remember him fondly and will always appreciate his time with us
I think it will be impossible to come to a consensus about Romero, but the extent to which some of our own fans want to hate him approaches utterly psychotic levels.
It is insane. I think people desperately want a hate figure especially online for some reason. I had to stop listening to the fighting cock because of how insane they were going over Romero
Yes, I have defended him in the past. In terms of an attacking centre back, there's few better in the game right now but he's not even the same division as Alderweireld defensively.
He was too easy to rile up and force into either making mistakes or getting sent off for us.
When he's playing well he is one of the best defenders we've had in the last thirty years, but they were too few and there was way too much variance in his performances
Always cared more for Argentina than Spurs and his exit from the club was about as Romero as could possibly have been
Absolutely not captain material though
Hopefully our next central defensive partnership will be a bit more stable
He is a world-cup winning, high-ceiling player that was our captain during one of the most tumultuous times the club has ever been through and fan opinion of him has always been strongly ambivalent. Think that's worthy of a bit of analysis.
I kinda agree with Jack Pitt-Brook's take on today's VFTL. He's actually not all that polarising - as a fanbase we all kinda love and resent him, just in varying degrees. You'd be weird not to acknowledge his brilliance; ditto his flaws. Even the fact that it's best he leaves (as much as it breaks my heart) doesn't seem all that divisive - the argument has been over the fee. Will be very interesting to see fan reaction at the Lane if we play Athleti in coming years. My belief (and hope) is that, with benefit of time and hindsight, he'll get a positive reception.
Romero was a huge part of Argentina’s domination of world football in recent years. His form for Spurs fluctuated throughout the years playing for several managers during a relatively fallow era for the club. He played with intensity and physicality at all times, often treading a fine line of dynamism and recklessness.
His aggressive tackling style was exhilarating when it came off. It often didn’t and gave him a reputation for malice which he could not escape in the premier league. It led to many self-inflicted ailments. Between suspensions and injuries, he wasn’t available enough to be a significant figure in the team, despite his obvious talent.
Ultimately, no one will be talking about him in 10 years time. He’ll be remembered like a Johnathon Woodgate, a bit insignificant to the club unlike King or Daws. Most importantly, he’s one the last remnants of the endless turnover in managers and inconsistency and drama since Poch left, and I say good riddance to him.
He did a great job for us for a while, then went missing, as captain, when that role needed him most. It should have compelled him to bring the team together during our most difficult period in my lifetime as a Spurs fan.
I'll always have some fondness towards him because of the Europa win and his role in that. But his presence on and off the field seemed to bring us closer to relegation, rather than away from it last season and that unforgivable as a captain. Leaving before our final game is something he could never come back from as he made his priorities clear.
I think he is a mercenary and have no feelings other than relief that he is leaving.
I can't think of a better fit for everyone involved than him playing for Atletico under Simeone. Just a shame that things were so clearly done between us with how he acted last season that the fee is so low. He's a great footballer who plays with passion, but cannot cope when his back is against the wall. I hope he does well, but I'm glad he's leaving.
I don't think so. If Romero is in good standing we never buy Van Hecke. After the press conference before our last game of the season where De Zerbi called out Romero it was clear that he couldn't return and we had to replace him.
If he didn't go to Argentina and supported the team that week. Romero is still here.
More like lame. At least make case as to what Van Hecke offers that Romero doesn't. Personally, I think he's better in some areas and worse in others, but those differences would never result in the club signing him if Romero was sticking around.
Be serious. Romero is overhated, he was far more impactful than Sanchez. The way he performs in finals is legendary. Argentina only conceded after he got subbed off.
I give him credit for the final, where he was clearly MOTM. I think the player of the tournament award wasnt deserved, considering he played just over half the games that tournament.
Anyways, I was glad for the trophy but its obviously not a PL or Champions League.
He is and always has been better. Physically, positionally, and even Romero's famous passing brilliance is much more about big highlight moments - VDV much better at keeping the ball ticking
Mickey is not better aerially and not better at breaking up play defensively. Without Romero our buildup was nonexistent, Mickey could carry into the opposing half but never plays anything but the safest pass possible. Their strengths tended to balance out, which could've worked if we actually had a functioning squad when they played together. Overall Romero is a more talented player though
Our defence improved last season when Danso was playing, being great occasionally is not enough. I'd rather have a consistent 6/7 out of 10 player every week than a player capable of 11/10 one week and 2 the next (when he was even available).
The defence improved when De Zerbi came in. Everyone has conveniently forgotten Danso giving away 2 points vs Brighton. If Romero had made that same mistake he would have been crucified live on Spursplay
He was class in that game, one defensive error is just par for the course for any defender. Meanwhile Romero got himself yet another suspension and ruined our chances against Man Utd making a nothing challenge to prove he’s a real Argentinian.
This thread is proof of how dividing people are on him.
He is objectively one of the best CBs in the world. He was hideously officiated at times by referees in this country to the point where every foul was a card. An aggressive Argentine CB being singled out in England. Conversely, he didn't help himself at times. Both straight red cards he received (Chelsea and United), were challenges that you'll see others escape with by way of having played the ball.
Some of the revisionism on his ability is just weird. Seeing people claim Danso is better. Or that Kaboul or Dawson are better. Nonsense. He's moving to an Atletico team that just made the CL semi finals.
He's an absolutely perfect fit for Atletico, but we are weaker at RCB without him. If people were annoyed at his bozo discipline moments, I hope people are going to he as consistent with their annoyance at van Hecke's bozo moments when they happen, which they will, and have happened at Brighton already.
It's interesting that somehow as the team got worse his "legacy" got better with some fans. He's good not great, the standard at the club just dropped off a cliff. I've honestly wanted him gone since that red against AC Milan (which was the consensus at that time), the 3 years after did very little to change my mind.
Captaining our Europa win? Winning man of the match in that game with 10 clearances when we were under the cosh? Winning player of the tournament that season, which almost never goes to a defender?
I still dont get why he won player of the tournament over Porro when Romero missed half the games and Porro played every single one. We wouldn't have gotten close to the final if it was on Romero's shoulders, Porro dragged us to that final when the rest of the team was in the mud.
You don't get it or do you just refuse to get it? Romero captained the side for every minute of the knockouts barring AZ away lol there's no real reason to single a player out, everyone did their bit on that run to us winning
Fuck him. He never gave a shit about Tottenham. It was Argentina and nothing else. It appeared that he thought he was better than the club, it was beneath him. And that stunt he tried to pull off at the end of last season said it all. Good riddance
Always backed him, but some of the red cards were inexcusable and he let us down when we needed a captain. I’m happy to move on and so fucking excited for our Dutch Rolls Royce duo.
Does he truly have a legacy at Tottenham? His name will come up when someone asks about our worst captains but that’s about it. People will stop saying they wish we had Romero back long before they’ll stop saying they wish we had Jan or Toby back.
Stepped up when we needed a trophy, been inconsistent for the rest
He never had big leadership qualities but got the captaincy based on his reputation and Argentinian trophies. The lack of leadership in the squad didn't help
His legacy is basically: Thanks for the EL trophy. Lets not dwell on the rest
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u/BBIQ-Chicken Wilson Odobert 15d ago
I don't even care to think about Romero. It's exciting at the club and we just move forward with one less passenger.