Cristian Romero has avoided any disciplinary action from Tottenham despite a social media post accusing unnamed figures in the club’s hierarchy of telling lies.
He will not be stripped of the captaincy nor will he be fined, according to boss Thomas Frank, who said he and Johan Lange, one of the club’s two sporting directors, had discussed the matter with captain Romero and considered the matter closed.
‘He is our captain, he has not been fined,’ said Frank. ‘There’s a lot of ways to deal with different situations. We’ve chosen to have a good conversation with him, understand where he stands, handle it internally.
‘Johan and I spoke together. Johan and I had a conversation with Cuti. Done.’
Romero posted on his Instagram account after defeat at Bournemouth, on Wednesday, a night when his defensive partner and vice-captain Micky van de Ven also became embroiled in angry post-match verbal exchange with fans in the away end.
Romero’s message started with an apology to supporters and a promise to keep trying to improve results, but then he added: ‘At times like this it should be other people coming out to speak, but they don’t – as has been happening for several years now.
‘They only show up when things are going well, to tell a few lies. We’ll stay here, working, sticking together and giving our all to turn things around.’
Several teammates including Xavi Simons and Richarlison ‘liked’ the post and Pedro Porro responded to say: ‘Amen,’ and then, in Spanish, added: ‘Keep going brother. We have many battles ahead of us.’
Romero later edited his post to remove the ‘lies’.
The 27-year-old Argentine, affectionately known as Cuti, has been at Spurs since 2021 and signed a new four-year contract in the summer after Frank selected him as captain after Son Heung-min’s exit.
He speaks rarely in public but is prone to such cryptic social media posts. One towards the end of last season offered effusive praise to the Argentina medics for helping him back from nagging injury problems while failing to remark on the club’s medical staff.
There have been a cluster of frustrated outbursts from players this season often connected to poor home form and disciplinary problems featuring Yves Bissouma, who was dropped for persistent lateness and then pictured for a second time in his Spurs career inhaling nitrous oxide from a balloon.
Romero’s social media comments can be interpreted as a swipe at perceived ambition in the transfer market, puts a strain on Frank’s repeated insistence that everyone at the club is fully aligned under the new regime of the Lewis family and chief executive Vinai Venkatesham.
‘It is very important to stress that even though there’s noise, the club is very aligned,’ said the Spurs boss. ‘Johan, Vinai and I are very aligned. Ownership is very aligned. We know it’s a tough spell that we need to get through.’
Spurs have slipped to 14th with only two wins in 12 Premier League games since the end of October.
The defeat at Bournemouth was emotional because Frank’s team fought back from 2-1 down to draw level and were close to finding a winner in the closing stages before the sucker punch, a goal scored by departing hero Antoine Semenyo the 95th minute.
There was added farce with Frank parading around on the pitch pre-match drinking coffee from an Arsenal-branded cup. And more injuries.
Rodrigo Bentancur suffered a hamstring injury, which Frank admits is ‘a bigger one’ than they feared. Lucas Bergvall picked up a thigh muscle injury at Bournemouth which needs to be assessed.
Mohamed Kudus, injured against Sunderland on Sunday, is not expected back until after the March internationals, which effectively rules him out until April.
Dejan Kulusevski, who damaged a kneecap in May and was initially on course to return in December, has been feeling pain in his recovery training and undergone a course of injections.
