Cristian Romero sees progress at Tottenham after previous ‘anger’

Cristian Romero believes Tottenham are moving in the right direction again but has revealed anger at a failure to act like the “big clubs” sparked his previous explosive statements.

Romero helped Spurs to a first trophy in 17 years with Europa League success in May, which earned qualification into this season’s Champions League.

European glory in Bilbao came at the end of a rollercoaster campaign and Romero was no stranger to a cryptic message. Back in December he claimed Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City’s spending were “things to imitate” because Tottenham’s structure meant they “could easily be competing for the title every year”.

Then on the day of Thomas Frank’s appointment in June – after Ange Postecoglou was sacked 16 days on from the Europa League final – Romero paid tribute to his old boss for his achievements “despite the many obstacles that always existed and always will exist”.

Ahead of Tuesday’s visit of Villarreal, club captain Romero admitted: “Yes, I did a lot of interviews which seemed like I was talking badly about people inside the club but in the end I’m a person who sometimes makes mistakes and that’s it.

“I always want the best for the club. Sometimes, things have been said that aren’t true as well, but always everything I said is because I want there to be a structure of a club that can be at the top level, part of the big clubs.

“That’s why I was sometimes so angry before, but today I see a very, very organised club with a clear idea and a coach who is organising things and everyone is seeing that in a short space of time we are with him and that’s it.

“Absolutely everyone inside is looking in the same direction and that is the important thing. We hope obviously to continue like this. There are objectives for the season but as I said before, our heads are in tomorrow’s game.

“We are going to enjoy that we’re back in the Champions League, that’s the most important thing. I see a fantastic group, a coach who leaves us with a clear idea.

“The group is very happy and we have to go game by game but I believe we can achieve great things. We hope and we are going to fight to lift another trophy.”

It has been a summer of change at Spurs with Vinai Venkatesham beginning his role as chief executive in June before Daniel Levy’s 24-year reign as chairman ended on September 2 after he was invited to step down in an unexpected move by majority shareholder ENIC, owned by the Lewis family.

While Romero was complimentary of Levy, he was firm in his belief that Tottenham are moving in the right direction.

He said: “I don’t know what’s happened, but he’s a person who’s been at the club for a good many years. We need to thank him, because he’s the person who brought me here to Spurs.”

Romero continued: “In the end it depends on everyone that we pull in the same direction.

“I think that since Thomas arrived here, they have started to take all those decisions to go in the same direction. And then when it’s like that, everything runs a lot more easily, right?

“The players know what the objectives are for the season and we continue like this. We started to improve and we want another title this season.”