Romero ‘angry' about Spurs' past but future is bright under Frank

Captain insists club is pulling in the 'same direction' at last as Tottenham's Champions League campaign kicks off

- David Hytner

The way that Cristian Romero tells it, there was a kind of rage inside him, an overwhelming desire for Tottenham to be better that sometimes overtook him.

The defender could not help himself, he needed to make his views known, but when all of the pieces were put together from last season and into the summer, it was difficult to see that he was planning on staying at the club.

There was the repost of a social media message last September that claimed he was tired because Spurs had not flown him back on a private jet from Argentina duty. Note: reposts can be endorsements.

There was the complaint in December that the club's lack of spending meant they were falling behind Premier League rivals. “You have to realise that something is going wrong - hopefully they [the board] realise it,” he said.

There was the moment in March of this year when Romero thanked the Argentina medics for his return to fitness after injury while making no mention of the physios at Spurs. There was the interview in April when he said he would love to play in Spain's La Liga. And he appeared to sign off on more than one level in mid-June as he paid tribute to the club's outgoing manager, Ange Postecoglou - just after Thomas Frank had been confirmed as his successor. “You paved the way despite the many obstacles that always existed and always will exist,” he wrote. Romero was being linked at the time with Atlético Madrid.