The World Cup-winning defender has not featured for the North London club since sustaining a severe knee injury against Sunderland in April. Despite his captaincy status, Romero has reportedly opted against attending the final fixture at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Instead, the 28-year-old centre-back has chosen to travel 7,000 miles back to his homeland to watch his boyhood team participate in a historic domestic title decider. The lack of boardroom and squad solidarity during a catastrophic campaign has sparked severe fury across the fanbase.
South American football analyst Tim Vickery broke the initial news, detailing the domestic context driving the captain's controversial trip to Buenos Aires. Explaining why the fixture holds such deep personal significance for the defender, Vickery told talkSPORT: “He will be at the final of the Argentine Championship between Belgrano and River Plate.
"Belgrano are Romero’s club. It’s the club where he started, and he’s a fan. Belgrano have never won the Argentine Championship. They are going to River Plate, who have won more than anyone else, so this is historic. Fifteen years ago, these two met in the play-off that relegated River Plate. If Tottenham going down is off the scale, River Plate going down is even more off the scale.”
Tottenham must avoid defeat against a stubborn Everton side on Sunday afternoon to guarantee top-flight survival and protect a quarter of a billion pounds in revenue. Compounding their anxiety, the home side enter the capital showpiece entirely winless in their last 10 home league outings. Should Spurs buckle under the intense pressure and West Ham defeat Leeds, the North London side will suffer a catastrophic relegation to the Championship.