An experienced United States star has revealed that his national team boss, Mauricio Pochettino, has asked him to study one Tottenham man and model his game around him.
Tottenham Hotspur boasted of multiple world-class players a few years ago, including the likes of Harry Kane and Heung-min Son.
At times, even the likes of Mousa Dembele, Christian Eriksen, Kyle Walker, and Toby Alderweireld would have entered that conversation.
Not many neutrals will look at the current Spurs squad and say that they do not have any obvious world-class players. However, if you pose the same question to Tottenham fans, they will unanimously put one name forward: Cristian Romero.
Thomas Frank has labelled Cristian Romero as one of the best in the world, and it looks like former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino agrees.
What Mauricio Pochettino has said about Tottenham captain Cristian Romero
Pochettino, who is preparing the United States for their home World Cup next year, has told one of his key men to copy the way Romero plays his game.
This has been revealed by centre-back Mark McKenzie, who explained that the Argentine coach wants him to find the balance between being an extremely aggressive competitor while retaining the calmness and humility off the pitch.
The Toulouse centre-back told AS: “I think it’s about having a certain level of toughness, a certain level of aggression, when you’re on the pitch.
“At Tottenham, there’s a player like Cuti Romero. He’s a player Mauricio and I talk about constantly. It’s a balance between being a good guy off the pitch, very humble and calm, but as soon as he steps on the pitch, you feel his presence.
“He has a special aura. Any player who faces him will think it’s going to be a long day. So that’s an example of a player Mauricio and I sit down together and watch videos of. That’s the style he wants me to adopt. Once on the pitch, it’s about doing everything possible to benefit the team and get a win.”
Romero is rated highly by his peers but is not respected enough in media circles
There is no question that those who have played with or against the Spurs captain are aware of just how good he is.
Just a few days ago, Julian Alvarez named Romero as the best defender in the world without any hesitation whatsoever.
However, he is still underrated and sometimes even disrespected by pundits. A couple of weeks ago, Joleon Lescott named Romero as the most overrated player in the Premier League.
The reason those sorts of opinions are still prevalent about the 27-year-old is down to the fact that he made a bad first impression as being reckless.
Players usually find it very difficult to shake off those initial tags, as we saw with Harry Kane, who was written off consistently for many years until his numbers made it simply impossible to do so.