When Spurs drew 2-2 with Brighton on Sunday, Cristian Romero watched from a private box high above the stands — removed from the bench, removed from the huddle, removed from the togetherness Roberto De Zerbi was visibly trying to build. That image says more about where this relationship stands than any contract detail.
Romero sustained a season-ending knee injury in the 1-0 defeat at Sunderland on April 12, leaving the pitch in tears — tears that, sources suggest, were as much for Argentina's World Cup prospects as for Spurs. He's contracted until 2029, but that doesn't mean he'll be here.
The captain who was never really the captain
Thomas Frank gave Romero the armband after Son Heung-Min left last summer, and according to sources it wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement of his leadership qualities. It was more a case of limited options in a squad that has been slowly hollowed out by years of poor recruitment. Spurs tried to sign Andy Robertson in January specifically because they acknowledged a shortage of players who actually set the right example. That tells you everything.
Romero has been sent off six times in all competitions since arriving in August 2021 — more than any other Premier League player in that period. Four of those were straight red cards. He's been booked 36 times in the league, the highest figure for any defender. He's been late to training at least once this season. He publicly called out his own club twice: first saying people at Spurs "only show up when things are going well, to tell a few lies", then labelling having just 11 available players for a Manchester City game as "disgraceful."
The frustrations behind those words aren't wrong. But a captain who can't stay on the pitch long enough to change a game doesn't get to set the culture. Since joining, Romero has missed 95 of Tottenham's 251 matches across all competitions — 62 of those in the Premier League alone. That's 38% of their fixtures gone. For a squad this threadbare, that absence rate is crippling.
What comes next depends on the league Spurs are in
Tottenham sit two points below the relegation zone with five games left. De Zerbi has insisted they can win all five. The maths allows it. Whether this squad has the nerve for it is a different question entirely — and Romero's replacement, Kevin Danso, gifted Brighton their equaliser with a mistake in the box that summed up Spurs' season in one sequence.
Relegation would force a fire sale. Spurs haven't turned a profit since 2019 and carry the seventh-highest wage bill in the Premier League. Championship football means selling, restructuring, and rebuilding all at once. Romero, with reported interest from Atlético Madrid, clubs in Italy and England, and a salary that makes no sense outside the top flight, would almost certainly be among those moved on.
Even if Spurs survive, the question doesn't go away. His father publicly claimed earlier this month that the contract contains a release clause of £40-55 million. Tottenham have strongly denied any automatic mechanism exists. But the very fact that's being floated publicly suggests the Romero camp is already thinking about the exit.
He scored last-gasp equalisers at Newcastle and Burnley this season. His performance in last year's Europa League final win over Manchester United was the best on the pitch. The talent is real. The problems around it are also real, and they've been real for four years now. De Zerbi has to decide whether he's building around Romero or moving on without him — and from what Sunday looked like, that decision may already be made.
