Cristian Romero in preliminary Argentina squad | OneFootball

Over the weekend, Tottenham Hotspur central defender Cristian Romero was named in Argentina’s preliminary squad by manager Lionel Scaloni, for World Cup qualifiers against Brazil and Rodrigo Bentancur’s Uruguay later on this month.

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of this — it is important to note two things. First of all, and to state the obvious — the player has not picked himself. Second of all, this is a preliminary squad that will be cut down. There is the possibility that they will wait to see if he plays for Spurs before then, and decide to keep or cut him from the squad accordingly.

Cristian Romero in preliminary Argentina squad for World Cup qualifiers

Nevertheless, as you can imagine — this has gone down like a lead balloon on social media within the fanbase, whom are far from happy. The defender has played 15 minutes since the defeat to Ipswich Town in November. So since that game, he has played 30 more minuted for Argentina than Spurs — despite no international break in four months.

That is not to attack and slander the player, it is just analysing the facts on offer, and showing why the fanbase are getting pretty frustrated with the situation at hand.

Earlier on this year, it was reported that Spurs were willing to make Romero the club’s highest paid player, in order to try and fend off interest in his services from elsewhere.

Regardless of your thoughts on Heung-Min Son — whether you think he’s finished, declined, not good enough to start, any or all of that — he objectively does not deserve to earn less money than Romero, given everything he has done for the club over such a long period of time.

It is not to say that the Argentine is a bad player, far from it. However, as always, availability is the best ability. What is the point if you can only play for a quarter of an hour in four months? Compared to the skipper who, after missing a few games early on, is playing every week despite being in his 30’s now.

This is not to say the injuries are Romero’s fault, at least certainly not entirely his fault. Whether it be Ange or the medical team, the likelihood is he hasn’t had the absolutely optimal physical care to be available during this time.

In any case, let’s see if he is available against AZ Alkmaar on Thursday evening. He seems to have been back training for a minute now, so there will be plenty of frustration if he is not at Ange’s disposal for a huge game. That said, if he is not 100%, then no doubt it should wait, as annoying as it would be.