Antonio Conte says 24-year-old Tottenham player has improved a lot under him

By Shamanth Jayaram

Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte has claimed that Cristian Romero has improved a lot under him, but he still has to get better to fulfil his potential.

The Argentine, who won the World Cup in Qatar, is widely viewed as Spurs’ best defender. He is excellent on his day, but there are times when he loses control.

That happened against AC Milan on Wednesday, and Romero has come under a lot of criticism since.

Antonio Conte says Cristian Romero has improved a lot under him at Tottenham

From Jamie O’Hara calling Romero a ‘liability‘ to Chris Sutton branding him as an ‘idiot‘, the Argentine has had a week to forget following his red card on Wednesday.

It has to be said that seeing him sent off isn’t really a surprise. He has been lucky to stay on the pitch on numerous occasions since he joined Spurs, and he is unnecessarily wild with his tackles at times.

Conte was asked about Romero today and the Tottenham boss admitted that he has to improve that side of his game. However, he also claimed the 24-year-old has gotten a lot better under his tutelage since he joined the club.

The Italian said, as quoted by Football London’s Alasdair Gold: “We are talking about a really, really good player. I said to him to become a top, top player and he has all the possibility to be a top, top defender, he has to control much better himself.

“For sure I know that he understood and Cristian, he wants to improve in this aspect. If he is able to improve in this aspect, we are talking about a really, really top defender, despite his young age.

“He’s really strong and improved a lot but there is this side he has to improve. I’m his coach and it’s my job to improve my players and he has to improve this aspect to become complete, a complete player at a big, big level.”

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Conte’s right, Romero has improved a lot under him, but he can still get so much better.

The 24-year-old’s positioning is good and his physicality makes him a great fit for the Premier League. His aggressiveness is what has made Spurs fans love him, but he just needs to get that under control.

If he can manage to do that, he will become a top centre-half, perhaps even one of the best in the Premier League.

Tottenham take on Nottingham Forest next and Romero is expected to start. He’d love nothing more than to redeem himself after his display against Milan last time out.