Cristian Romero continues to be linked with a move away from Tottenham Hotspur, but Teddy Sheringham believes Roberto De Zerbi should think carefully before allowing the Argentine to leave.
Following the arrivals of Marcos Senesi and Jan Paul van Hecke, it appears Tottenham have already begun planning for Cristian Romero‘s departure, who is expected to leave North London this summer despite signing a new contract only last year.
That stance has also been backed by Fabrizio Romano, with several clubs in Spain continuing to monitor the World Cup winner’s situation. More recently, the Italian journalist revealed that Romero was even ‘offered’ to Inter Milan while the two clubs were discussing a potential deal involving Djed Spence.
Tottenham will now hope interest in the defender develops into a bidding war, with one recent report claiming Spurs would be willing to sanction his sale for around €50m (£42.6m). However, former Tottenham striker Teddy Sheringham believes De Zerbi should not be too quick to let him go.
Teddy Sheringham urges Roberto De Zerbi to back Cristian Romero
Ahead of Argentina’s World Cup final against Pedro Porro’s Spain, Teddy Sheringham spoke in association with ComeOn, with his comments relayed by Football.London, where he urged Tottenham to continue backing Romero despite his recent struggles.
He said: “Listen, I wouldn’t want to play against Cristian Romero. He might be a loose cannon but he’s a really good player. He’s a World Cup winner and you don’t win a World Cup being an average player.
“You’ve got to be careful what you’re doing if you’re Tottenham just getting rid of him because he’s had a bad spell. He could go somewhere else like Barcelona and Real Madrid and hit it off.
“I played with Roy Keane and he got plenty of red cards in his time, and you’ve got to have your leaders and your naughty players sometimes to stamp things out, otherwise people walk all over you, but it’s got to be done in the right way.
“I hope Roberto De Zerbi can put an arm round Romero but there’s always so much speculation about his future, isn’t there, so maybe the writing is on the wall.”
Gary Neville has a different view on Romero’s Argentina success
Sheringham’s defence of Romero comes only days after the Argentine found himself in a public war of words with Gary Neville, who was quite critical of the Tottenham captain.
After previously describing Romero and fellow Argentina international Lisandro Martinez as the “best worst centre-backs in the world”, Romero hit back by saying he had no desire to become like Neville once he retired.
Neville responded by arguing that Argentina’s recent success has owed far more to Lionel Messi than to their defenders.
He said: “Yeah, I said they give goals away, and they’ve conceded six, by the way, in the knockout games, in four matches. If they didn’t have Lionel Messi up front… those two should go and hug him every single minute of every single day because he’s had to pull them out of the mire.
“Romero played in a team [Tottenham] last year that nearly went down and got relegated in the Premier League, conceding 65 goals, so I think I know what I’m talking about when I watch a player.
“He’s very talented, as is Lisandro Martínez, but they do make mistakes, lots of them, and they have conceded goals. But they are a force of nature, they have incredible personalities, they go and win every header in the attacking box and sometimes in the defensive box and I just see such a contradiction in games.
“He’s relatively young, Romero, he’s not an experienced defender yet. He’s won a World Cup and he’s got incredible achievements. But without Lionel Messi last night and without Lionel Messi in these last two tournaments…”