Cristian Romero labels Tottenham squad depth ‘disgraceful’ amid injury crisis

Tottenham captain Cristian Romero has described the squad’s lack of depth as “disgraceful” in another thinly-veiled criticism of the club.

Romero was forced off during Spurs’ battling 2-2 draw at home to Manchester City with an illness, which also affected the Argentina international in the midweek win over Eintracht Frankfurt.

The withdrawal of Romero took Tottenham’s current list of absentees well beyond double figures in parallels to last season under Ange Postecoglou, who battled with an enormous injury crisis for months and clinched Europa League glory but also presided over a 17th-placed finish in the Premier League.

It cost Postecoglou his job but it has been a similar story for replacement Thomas Frank, who has struggled without a number of key personnel all season and Spurs have won just two of their last 15 games in the Premier League to increase fears of a potential relegation battle.

Even though Tottenham impressively brought in Conor Gallagher in a £34.7million move from Atletico Madrid midway through January, they sold last season’s leading scorer Brennan Johnson and have lost nine players to injury since the turn of the year to further frustrate a disgruntled fanbase.

Moments after the winter transfer deadline closed, captain Romero said on Instagram: “Great effort from all my teammates yesterday, they were incredible.

“I wanted to be available to help them even though I wasn’t feeling well, especially since we only had 11 players available — unbelievable but true and disgraceful.

“We’ll keep showing up and taking responsibility to turn this around, working hard and staying together. All that’s left is to thank all of you for being there and for always supporting us, the fans.”

Spurs did later announce the loan signing of Hearts teenager James Wilson with the option to make the move permanent, but the forward is a player for the Under-21 squad.

It still proved to be a quiet deadline day at Tottenham after the club resisted the temptation to chase short-term signings, Press Association understands.

PA understands Spurs’ desire in the winter transfer window was to bring forward summer targets, which resulted in a move for Andy Robertson which ultimately collapsed.

It was a similar story for the successful pursuits of Gallagher and Brazilian left-back Souza, but the club were eager to remain disciplined and stick with a strategic strategy of signing long-term targets.

Significant funds were available from majority shareholders ENIC, PA understands, and this was highlighted in the failed bid to sign Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth.

Yet after Semenyo decided to join Manchester City, Tottenham were comfortable to wait until the summer to land key targets.

Romero’s latest social-media message – after another Instagram post earlier in January was critical at a lack of communication from unspecified key figures – was liked by several team-mates, including Pedro Porro, Xavi Simons and Dominic Solanke.