Cristian Romero has an impeccable sense of timing, and not merely on the football pitch.
The Argentine has once again taken to social media to take a dig at the Tottenham board, and the timing of his latest Instagram post seems absolutely intentional.
In June, Romero opted to post his farewell message to Ange Postecoglou just after Thomas Frank's appointment was confirmed, almost a week after the Australian's departure. He was close with Frank's predecessor, and the centre-back wanted to make a point.
Nevertheless, Romero has since helped Frank stay in the job, embarking on his most prolific goalscoring season to date. He's occasionally cut a mightily frustrated figure, left bereft by the dreariness in front of him, but it's evident that he cares deeply about this club and the direction its heading.
The Argentine's made that clear again.
'Disgraceful'—Romero slams transfer inactivity amid availability crisis
Some speculated that Romero's half-time withdrawal against Manchester City on Sunday was due to something he may have said in the dressing room following a familiarly drab first-half showing. Spurs were 2-0 down, and the wheels seemed to be falling off.
However, out of nowhere, Frank's side rallied to earn a point. The Dane confirmed post-match that Romero had been withdrawn because of an illness he'd been battling throughout the week, not because he'd thrown a chair at Johnny Heitinga or called Danish pastries overrated.
And to social media we go...
Instead of publishing swiftly after the final whistle, as many players (or their social media teams) tend to do after a positive result, Romero waited until the conclusion of the January transfer window on Monday night to post. Spurs were surprisingly inactive, but we can't forget that we did try to sign Antoine Semenyo.
Tottenham's captain has called out the club's lack of investment in the past, most notably in late 2024, after a 4-3 defeat to Chelsea, when he said: "You have to realise that something is going wrong, hopefully, they [the board] realise it."
Post-City, Romero labelled Spurs' availability crisis as "disgraceful".
"Great effort from all my teammates yesterday, they were incredible," his caption started. "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."
The captain's frustrations are warranted. We've been promised plenty by this new-look board since Daniel Levy left town, but during their first transfer window without the former executive chairman, they've found a way to weaken the squad.
Priority areas haven't been targeted, nor have players (whether sold or injured) been replaced. They've left an already unpopular manager hung out to dry, and Romero, who committed his future to this club last year, has every right to vent. It is a disgrace.