A look at the central defender, who has two years left on his deal.
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00:00And Christian Romero, obviously, let's just have a note on his spurs time. His future's, you know, a bit uncertain. He's only 26, probably near the peak of his career now.
00:12Where do you sort of see him, his future going? How important is he to Spurs in terms of this summer rebuild where there could be a new manager in charge as well?
00:21I mean, he's a real key player. Yes, he's missed, you know, a number of games through injury, you know, not once but twice in terms of seasons at Spurs.
00:30But he's a real leader. He's a top player. And, you know, you have to admit they've probably missed him at the best of times this season.
00:39Yeah, I mean, it's a bit of the curious case of Christian Romero, I think, sometimes.
00:43World Cup winner, Copa America winner, always seems to be available for Argentina. A lot of Spurs fans are a little bit sceptical about that.
00:51He tends to be available for Argentina, but he's rarely able to turn out for Spurs. I mean, I think this season that's maybe just by luck rather than design.
01:00But have we ever really seen the best of Romero in a Spurs shirt? I mean, it's quite interesting.
01:05I think in flashes, you know, absolutely no doubt he's a quality player. And when he's on it, he's an asset to Spurs.
01:12There have been, you know, purple patches where he's been very, very consistent alongside van der Ven.
01:17Previous to that as well, you know, he's had some really, really good spells in a Spurs shirt.
01:21But has he ever really hit the heights? I'm not so sure. I'm not so sure.
01:26I think the jury is out a little bit and he seems to lose concentration at key moments.
01:31At the start of the season, he cost us quite a few goals, albeit, as I say, he'd had a very short pre-season again.
01:37And a lot of talk this week about, you know, he wants to go. Atletico Madrid are linked with him, Aston Villa are linked with him.
01:44You know, all the signs are that he's got two years left on his deal and he'll be walking away this summer.
01:48But I think, you know, a lot of the echo chamber that goes around on social media are not factoring in Daniel Levy into this.
01:55And, you know, we've seen the problems of the likes of Harry Kane trying to get out of Spurs, Christian Eriksen before that.
02:00Daniel Levy will not deal with Aston Villa when he's got two years left on his deal in the summer, unless the fee is astronomical.
02:07Similarly, Atletico Madrid. So I think Romero would really have to agitate for a move to get it.
02:12And also, who knows if the next manager, you know, ends up being somebody like Mauricio Pochettino.
02:19There's a lot of mutual respect there. He's obviously a fellow Argentine.
02:22So I don't think it's done and dusted.
02:24But, you know, you would say the power is slowly shifting to Romero in terms of the keys he holds to his future with two years left.
02:31But as I said, Daniel Levy will have the final say on that and no player leaves Spurs.
02:35That is the one thing he is very good at, in all fairness.
02:38If you don't want to let a player go, you won't leave him, frankly, until it's on his terms.
02:42So interesting summer ahead. But, you know, as we've spoken about before, with or without Romero, you know, we need another centre-back coming in.
02:49We've obviously got van der Ven, you know, who's got so much talent.
02:54But is he going to be sort of the next Ledley King?
02:56Where he's a fantastic player, but we just really get him out on the pitch and see the best of him.
03:01Obviously, Dragusen's got his long-term cruciate injury in his knee, which, you know,
03:06who knows when he's going to come back or whether he'll even be the same player.
03:09And Kevin Danso has been pretty solid.
03:11I think it's been a very shrewd signing from Spurs, actually.
03:13But we're definitely short at centre-back, you know, whether Romero stays or he doesn't stay.
03:18So interesting to see how that one develops.
03:20But, you know, the other thing is, let's see how he plays in the next few games for Spurs.
03:23You know, let's see him be available now to the end of the season and really put his heart and soul on the line.
03:28If he does want his move, put everything out there and go out with a bang for Spurs and really show us what he can do.
03:35Because, as I say, the jury's out for me a little bit on the way he plays.
03:39And just on the Spurs summer, obviously, you mentioned a few positions there.
03:44But do you feel there's an overriding factor that there are, you know, a lack of leaders still in this Spurs group?
03:50And if there is a new manager and a bit of change to come in the summer,
03:53that's something they need to address in the transfer window?
03:57Yes, 100 per cent.
03:58You know, we took Harry Kane out of the team.
04:00Obviously, a huge leader, huge talisman, club record, goalscorer, club legend.
04:05But we also let Hojbjerg go in the same summer.
04:08And, you know, he divided fans.
04:11But he always did a job, particularly in that first season for Boston Cogle, he was a bit of a finisher.
04:15You know, he'd come on and just shore things up.
04:17And we've really lacked any kind of player like that this season and any kind of on-the-field leadership, really.
04:24You know, Sonny, fantastic player.
04:26But is he a great leader?
04:29Obviously, he's had his own struggle with his form and a little bit of his fitness this season as well.
04:34So it's a gaping hole in the team.
04:36You know, there's nobody in that team who, you know, really does manage on the pitch.
04:40And if we're struggling and under the cosh, you know, gets hold of everybody and says,
04:44hey, for the next five minutes, you know, you hold your positions.
04:48You don't do X, Y or Z.
04:50You know, we often look just sort of like headless chickens in terms of game management.
04:55So that's a huge area of concern and a huge area we need to address.
04:58Because, as I say, we've got the nucleus of the young talent coming through.
05:02But they need some experienced pros to come in alongside that, to augment it, to develop that young talent.
05:07And, you know, as I say, if we get two or three key positions in that spine of the team,
05:14then, you know, I don't think the new manager, should there be one, is going to be too far away.
05:19So you could argue Poster Coggley has laid a bit of groundwork there.
05:23But who knows what the future holds? We'll soon find out.