Report: Lionel Messi 'in love' with Spurs player, wanted to sign him in summer

By Giuseppe Labellarte

Spurs did superbly to sign Cristian Romero in the summer, a defender of the highest calibre.

Indeed, the Tottenham newcomer has a huge fan in Argentina teammate Lionel Messi.

According to The Athletic, Messi “fell in love” with Romero during the 2021 Copa America campaign.

The 23-year-old was incredible in defence as the Albiceleste lifted the trophy for the first time since 1993.

And when Messi went back to Barcelona, he was persistent in asking Joan Laporta and the board to sign Romero, added the report.

“When Tottenham finally decided to meet the valuation to sign Romero, no one was more relieved than the Barcelona staff who no longer had to handle Messi begging them to sign him,” claimed The Athletic.

Obviously neither player is at Camp Nou now, with Romero at Tottenham and Messi leaving for PSG.

Now, this bond between Messi and Romero – and indeed the whole Argentina team – provided a sort of explanation as to why Spurs and Aston Villa’s Argentinian players were so eager to head to South America.

Messi is 35 and next year’s World Cup in Qatar is likely to be his last major tournament, so his teammates want to get their nation over the line.

And The Athletic claims that Romero, Lo Celso, Emiliano Martinez and Emiliano Buendia were “desperate to go and contribute to the national effort, no matter how logistically difficult.

“All that the Argentinian players have done this week is to try to answer a bigger call, to try to write themselves into the margins of the story of the greatest footballer of all time.”