Tottenham Hotspur defender Cristian Romero being called up to the Argentina squad as he returns from his latest injury will have a familiar if not unfortunately coincidental feel about it.
The 26-year-old has struggled for availability this season under Ange Postecoglou with just 1,118 minutes for Tottenham spread across 12 Premier League appearances, one Europa League showing and one Carabao Cup match. The Spurs vice-captain suffered a toe injury in November and then on his return the following month against Chelsea, Romero suffered a quadriceps injury after just 15 minutes that proved to be a "slow burner" in the words of his head coach and he has not played since.
Now Romero is finally nearing a second return and is expected to be available for at least some of the upcoming games against AZ Alkmaar, Bournemouth and Fulham in the weeks ahead.
Before he has even set foot back in a competitive match for Spurs, Romero has already been named in the preliminary Argentina squad for the World Cup qualifying games against Uruguay and Brazil. He has been selected on the long list alongside former Tottenham team-mates Juan Foyth and Giovani Lo Celso.
While Romero cannot control when he is called up for international duty and the fact that he is included shows he should be available for Spurs very soon, but the coincidence of his return in time for those qualifying games will not go unnoticed by some Tottenham supporters, many of whom have long felt - rightly or wrongly - that the centre-back is often available for his country but not as much for his club.
The Argentine has been unavailable for 29 Tottenham matches this season across 113 days, according to Transfermarkt, but due to the spacing of his country's fixtures has been available for all four international breaks this season, albeit missing the second games in both October and November, once for the birth of his second child.
If you are counting the Copa America in the summer then Romero has appeared in 10 Argentina matches since June last year, almost as many as the 14 competitive games he has played for Spurs since then, plus one substitute appearance in the summer friendly against Bayern before the start of the season.
In total, since joining in 2021, Romero has played in 112 matches for the north London club and, according to Transfermarkt, has been unavailable for 60 matches through injury and another six through suspension.
The battling defender has always been angered by the suggestion that he gives anything less than 100% for Spurs or that his loyalties lie with his country.
"I think the people that say this clearly don't know me because I’m contracted to the club for many [more] years. I always try to give my best," he said in the summer of 2023. "Obviously last season it didn't always turn out great and you accept that. When things don't go well, you're the first to hold your hands up.
"As I said before, I'll take that, but I always try to give absolutely everything on the field. I always try to repay that trust that the fans, the club and everyone else put in me and I’ll try to come back in this coming season, by having good games so we can push the club as high up as possible.
"If I didn't feel the same passion [for Spurs as I do for Argentina], I would look to leave the club. Obviously I'm not happy with how last season ended for me and as I said before, I'm the first to hold my hands up and say it wasn't the best season but when I got offers from other clubs to move away for this coming season, I said no because I want to have my best years here. I really like the Premier League, I really like Tottenham and I want to be here for many more years to come.
"Now the group is in a good way. When I arrived at Tottenham I felt the group were the same. I see a manager here that has brought back hope because he wants to compete, wants to win and I think things haven't worked out for the club in the last few seasons but were still making significant strides and doing good things because it's not easy to start winning from one day to the next, but Spurs are continuing to progress in every sense and I believe we will achieve big things."
Tottenham and their supporters will be hoping to see Romero appear in a number of the games before his international duty and that their vice-captain can still have a big impact on the remainder of the season and the team's quest to win the Europa League.
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