Cristian Romero has insisted that despite his ultra-competitive and aggressive nature on the pitch, he is very cordial with all of his opponents once the referee blows the final whistle.
Rightly or wrongly, Romero has garnered a reputation as being one of the nastiest players in the Premier League.
That is not only down to the red cards that the Argentine has received and his tendency to make the occasional dangerous challenge, but also because of his general demeanour on the pitch.
The 25-year-old is never too far away from an altercation with an opponent and has even been seen celebrating in players’ faces on a few occasions.
When asked about his ‘nasty’ steak, Romero told The Sun: “People say I am nasty? In reality, this is just my style of play. It’s the way I go about things and that’s it.
“But I have huge respect for every opponent I face weekly. Maybe during a game we have a go at each other — but that’s all forgotten once we leave the pitch.
“I don’t feel invincible. I am just someone who wants to improve every day and I respect every player and team in the world.”
While there have never been any doubts about Romero’s talent, the centre-back never quite managed to fully win over the Spurs fans until this season.
The World Cup winner was part of an extremely leaky defensive unit at Tottenham last campaign, making a number of unforced errors.
Cristian Romero is a leader of the new Spurs era
However, he has stepped up his game since the arrival of Ange Postecoglou last summer, emerging as the leader of what is now a young Spurs backline.
When asked about his improvement, Romero said: “The truth is last year I wasn’t happy on a personal and collective level. Things didn’t go well at all with . . . we all know who our manager was. But thankfully now we have another gaffer and we renovated our team. This shows the club is doing things the right way.
“They brought in a competent manager and added the right players to our squad. We lost Kane, who is the best striker in the world. Everyone knows he is but, maybe, he needs to win a trophy to put that debate to rest. But he’s gone now and we are focusing on ourselves as we want to keep improving.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Postecoglou’s decision to make Romero vice-captain was a masterstroke as it has helped bring the best out of the 25-year-old, who evidently feels much more ownership of this Spurs team than he did until last season.
The decision has also ensured buy-in to the Australian’s methods from the Spanish-speaking contingent at Tottenham, with the centre-back being quite an influential voice in the dressing room.