Tottenham Hotspur lost their captain last summer when Heung-min Son joined LAFC, and a former Arsenal defender has called on them to consider selling their skipper again.
Cristian Romero has been one of Tottenham Hotspur’s standout performers over the past few years, and he wore the captain’s armband in the Europa League final.
However, the 27-year-old’s discipline has gone out the window this season. This has caused him to be suspended on three separate occasions, due to accumulating too many yellow cards and two straight sending-offs.
The Argentine is still not allowed to play for Spurs after his red card at Old Trafford, and they are clearly not coping without him in the team.
Martin Keown thinks Tottenham should weigh up Cristian Romero’s future
Spurs have a strong defensive duo in Romero and Micky van de Ven, but they rarely played together last season due to injuries. This season has once again seen at least one of the players unavailable multiple times, but due to disciplinary reasons.
With Romero the bigger culprit of the pair, player-turned-pundit Martin Keown has suggested that Tottenham should consider whether it is really worth holding onto Romero.
He told Football London: “I think that’s been really expensive for the club [missing Romero], and he’s one of the players that they have to really look at as to whether he’s part of the future. Because, you know, he’s ill-disciplined.
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“You need him back. They need one win, and they get out of trouble. I’m not sure where that’s coming now. They’ve lost their focus on where they are as a club. The whole culture at that football club is going to have to change.”
Spurs need to rebuild in the summer
If truth be told, Tottenham should not be afraid to sell any of their players after another diabolical domestic campaign.
Romero will certainly not be the first player the club look to sell, but a full squad rebuild is definitely needed to clear out the dead wood. As good as Romero is, there is no point having someone who is never available, so maybe Keown has a point.
You could certainly see a situation where Spurs cash in £60m for Romero or £100m for Van de Ven, before simply handing their respective position to Luka Vuskovic next season.