The Tottenham Hotspur captain and two of his team-mates are set to return to the north London club after their World Cup exploits
Cristian Romero, Pedro Porro and Djed Spence are set to return to Tottenham this week to meet back up with Roberto De Zerbi and their team-mates.
Porro returns as a World Cup winner, having starred at the competition with Spain and beaten Romero's Argentina in the final. The right-back was named in the team of the tournament and ensured it was the third consecutive World Cup that a Tottenham player emerged as a winner after Hugo Lloris and Romero triumphed in 2018 and 2022 respectively.
As with Porro and Romero, Spence also had a tournament to remember as he picked up plaudits aplenty for his performances as England finished in third place in the competition played across the USA, Canada and Mexico.
football.london understands that all three players are due to report back to pre-season training at Hotspur Way this week, having taken their minimum three-week period offered since the third-place match on July 18 and the final the following day.
Romero's Argentina team-mate Marcos Senesi chose to return early to Hotspur Way to get settled into his new surroundings while the club were on their pre-season tour Down Under. The former Bournemouth centre-back played 90 minutes in his country's group stage win against Jordan and then 18 minutes in the final so will be reasonably fresh.
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While Porro will return to the Enfield training complex, freshly engaged and with his football future also set after signing a bumper new long-term deal with Spurs, what comes next for Romero and Spence remains unclear.
The Spurs captain has been linked with moves to both Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan and despite signing a new contract last summer, the £52million arrival of Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton does give the club the depth to allow Romero to depart in the weeks ahead, but only for the right price.
De Zerbi told football.london on the club's pre-season tour that he will respect Romero and Guglielmo Vicario's wishes to leave north London this summer.
"At the beginning of my time, in April, I had, I don't know, one million individual meetings!" he said. "And [the players] told me what was their idea. I said: 'Yes, help me to stay up, and then I help you to leave'. If you don't help me to stay up, you stay underwater with me!
"But Romero with me was unbelievable. Top. In his behaviour, his respect, he suffered when he did not play the last game. It is not true that he wanted to leave for Argentina to prepare for their World Cup. It's not true. After the semi-final [against England] we text a message, but I never called him to convince him to stay. I respected what he told me. Like for Vicario, like for every player."
De Zerbi added: "Romero as a player is one of the best centre-backs in the world, but at the end I said I want to respect the will of the players."
The Italian later admitted that he had messaged Romero further during the tour but only to sort out his return to pre-season training.
"I texted with Cuti yesterday, this morning and yesterday, but to make a plan for when he has come to London but not for the transfer market," said the Spurs boss when asked about the centre-back's future. "And also it's not my job. You have to ask Johan Lange and Vinai [Venkatesham]. I know there are many solutions in the transfer market, but I don't follow the negotiation."
Spence has also been linked with the exit door after Porro's new contract with the England full-back keen to ensure he gets the required game time this season, with Everton among those linked to the 26-year-old.
De Zerbi made it clear to football.london that the ball is in Spence's court as he would love to keep him and wantaway midfielder Lucas Bergvall.
"What I say to you, is the same I said to Djed and to Lucas - 'I would like you to stay'," he explained. "Not 'I want you to stay'. 'I would like you stay if you want to stay'," he explained.
"'If you don't want to stay, if you want to leave, you have to leave'. If you want to leave, speak with Vinai [Venkatesham] and Johan, because I don't manage the price, the sale. I can speak with Vinai and Johan about the best strategy, but I don't decide £30m, £40m, that's not my position and I don't want to change my position. It's tough enough to be a coach and I want to stay as a coach.
"But I respected the player's ideas and opinions or projects. But if they stay, they have to stay following my rules, decisions on the pitch. After two games, three games, if one player is not playing and he starts to be sad or not correct with the other players, the coaches, staff, the club, we would make a big, big mistake because we didn't learn from the past season."