Tottenham defender Cristian Romero has been named as part of the Argentina squad for November's World Cup qualifiers. The Spurs ace started in Sunday's 4-1 win over Aston Villa but made way on 61 minutes due to injury.
Romero sustained a foot injury in a tackle with Villa's Morgan Rogers and was in no position to complete the final 30 minutes of the contest. It was in fact the second game running that the World Cup winner had exited the field early after only playing 52 minutes in last Wednesday's 2-1 win over Manchester City in the Carabao Cup.
Romero's injury against Aston Villa was not the only issue Spurs picked up in the game as Richarlison was also forced off late in the contest with what appeared to be a hamstring issue. Speaking after the game in his post-match press conference, Ange Postecoglou provided an update on the duo.
"Yeah, I know Richy obviously felt something in the action of setting the goal up, his hamstring, so we'll see," he said. "Romero yeah, it was in that challenge again. He felt his foot was sore. I don't have any sort of further information.
"Obviously, he's a pretty tough cookie, for him to come off, it must be sore, but yeah, look it's not ideal. But again it's another game where we've had to reshuffle our back line.
"Radu [Dragusin] has played left centre-back, right centre-back, left centre-back, right-centre-back, Ben Davies has had to come in at different times and Destiny [Udogie] midweek and the boys are handling it really well. As I said it's not ideal but, hopefully both are not too serious."
Postecoglou is due in front of the media on Wednesday evening ahead of Tottenham's Europa League tie against Galatasaray and he will provide the latest on the fitness of Romero and others. Ahead of this month's international break that commences after the conclusion of this weekend's games, Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni has named his 28-man squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Paraguay and Peru.
Despite the current question marks over Romero's injury and when he could return to action, the centre-back has been included in the Albiceleste squad, which suggests they believe he will be fit to represent his country later this month. Scaloni will certainly be hopeful that his defender is in a position to play in both games due to his key role in his starting XI.
If indeed Romero is to feature for his country during the international break, Postecoglou and Spurs will be keeping their fingers crossed that he doesn't suffer any further issues at a time when Micky van de Ven is currently on the sidelines through injury.
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