Cristian Gabriel "Cuti" Romero (born 27 April 1998) is an Argentine professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for club Tottenham Hotspur and the Argentina national team. Coming through the youth system, Romero began his senior career in 2016 at

Belgrano Belgrano may refer to: People * Joaquín Belgrano (1773–1848), an Argentine patriot * José Denis Belgrano (1844–1917), Spanish painter * Joseph Belgrano (1762–1823), Argentine military officer and politician, brother of Manuel * Manuel Belg ...

. He moved to Italy in 2018, playing for Genoa. Romero was purchased by

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

the following season; he was sent back on loan to Genoa before being sent on loan to Atalanta in 2020. After being nominated Serie A Best Defender in

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

with Atalanta, the club exercised the option of purchase before promptly loaning Romero to Tottenham with an obligation to buy. After a successful loan spell, Romero was signed by Tottenham in 2022. Romero represented Argentina at the youth level at the

2017 South American U-20 Championship The 2017 South American Youth Football Championship es, ''Campeonato Sudamericano Sub-20 ''Juventud de América'' Ecuador 2017'', italic=unset, pt, ''Campeonato Sul-Americano Sub-20 ''Juventude da América'' Equador 2017'', italic=unset, region=B ...

. He made his senior debut in 2021 and was a key member of the squads that won the

2021 Copa América The 2021 Copa América was the 47th edition of the Copa América, the international men's football championship organised by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. The tournament took place in Brazil from 13 June to 10 July 2021. The tour ...

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

and

2024 Copa América The 2024 Copa América will be the 48th edition of the Copa América, the quadrennial international men's football championship organized by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. Argentina are the defending champions. Host country ...

Club career

Belgrano

Having joined the youth team in 2014, Romero was promoted to

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Th ...

side

's first team in 2016; his debut came on 28 August, in a league match with Independiente. One month later, Romero played in both of Belgrano's

2016 Copa Sudamericana The 2016 Copa Sudamericana ( pt, Copa Sul-Americana 2016) was the 15th edition of the Copa Sudamericana, South America's secondary club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. The finals were originally to be played between Brazilian team Ch ...

round of 16 draws against Coritiba. In two seasons with Belgrano's first-team, he made nineteen appearances in all competitions.

Serie A

In July 2018, Romero joined Genoa of Serie A. He scored his first senior goal in his second Genoa match, netting in a 2–2 draw with Udinese on 28 October, only to be sent off later. On 9 July 2019,

announced Romero was having a medical ahead of a requested transfer. On 12 July 2019, Juventus announced the permanent acquisition of Romero from Genoa for €26 million, with the player remaining at his former club on loan for the rest of the season. On 5 September 2020, Romero joined Atalanta on loan until 30 June 2022 with an option to buy. He was elected the best defender of the

2020–21 Serie A The 2020–21 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 119th season of top-tier Italian football, the 89th in a round-robin tournament, and the 11th since its organization under an own league committee, the Lega Serie ...

season.

Tottenham Hotspur

On 6 August 2021, Juventus announced that Atalanta had activated the option to sign Romero for €16 million. Later that day, Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur announced his signing from Atalanta on an initial season-long loan with an option to make the deal permanent. Romero debuted for the club on 15 August, coming on as a late substitute for

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg Pierre-Emile Kordt Højbjerg (born 5 August 1995) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the Denmark national team. Højbjerg started his career as a youth for Danish clubs BK ...

in a match against

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that Tottenham won 1–0. On 19 August 2021, he made his first start in the UEFA Europa Conference League first leg tie against

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, which ended in a 1–0 defeat. Romero scored his first goal for Tottenham in a 2–0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion. On 30 August 2022, he signed for Tottenham permanently with a contract lasting until 2027. Ahead of the 2023–24 Premier League season, Romero was named as one of Tottenham's vice-captains. He made a strong start to the season, being described by manager

Ange Postecoglou Angelos Postecoglou ( el, Άγγελος Ποστέκογλου, ; born 27 August 1965) is an Australian association football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Scottish Premiership club Celtic. Born in Greece, he moved ...

as the “rock” in Tottenham's defence, and earning a nomination for the Player of the Month award in October. However, on 6 November 2023, Romero was shown a straight red card during Tottenham's 4–1 loss to rivals Chelsea. It was his fourth red card since moving to the Premier League, more than any other player in that time. Romero scored on his return from suspension, Tottenham's only goal in a 2–1 loss to West Ham United.

International career

Youth

Romero has represented Argentina at the

U20 U20 or U-20 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , a sloop of the Royal Navy * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Great truncated cuboctahedron * Meizu U20, a smartphone * Roland U-20, a synthesizer * Small nucleolar RNA SN ...

level, winning seven caps at the

in Ecuador. In April 2017, he was called up for Argentina's training camp ahead of the

2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 21st edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 as ...

in South Korea but was not selected on the tournament squad list. Romero was called up for the U23s in September 2019.

Senior

On 3 June 2021, Romero debuted for the senior national team a

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against Chile, playing the full match. In his second game for Argentina on 8 June, he scored his first international goal, coming from a thumping header against

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after only 130 seconds. This goal also broke the record for the fastest ever scored for Argentina in a professional match, surpassing Diego Maradona's goal after 168 seconds against Venezuela in 1985. In June 2021, Romero was included in

Lionel Scaloni Lionel Sebastián Scaloni (; born 16 May 1978) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who currently coaches the Argentina national team. A versatile player, he operated as a right-back or right midfielder. Born in Puj ...

's final Argentina 28-man squad for the

and the Team of the Tournament at the end as Argentina won the competition. Romero was also an integral part of the Argentinian team which won the

, in which he started in six out of seven matches including the final. In June 2024, Romero was included in Scaloni's final 26-man Argentina squad for the

Style of play

Romero has been described as a "proactive" defender always playing on the "front foot." This allows him to step up in the backline and make crucial interceptions in midfield. He is well known for his decision-making in his risky style of play. Romero is also known for his exceptional ability in the air and is adept at scoring headers in the box.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Romero goal.''

Honours

Argentina * FIFA World Cup:

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Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

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CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions The CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions, previously known officially as the European/South American Nations Cup and commonly as the Artemio Franchi Cup, is an official intercontinental football match organised by CONMEBOL and UEFA and contested by ...

Individual * Serie A Best Defender:

* Copa América Team of the Tournament:

References

External links

Profile
at the Tottenham Hotspur F.C. website * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Romero, Cristian Living people 1998 births Footballers from Córdoba, Argentina Argentine men's footballers Argentina men's international footballers Argentina men's under-20 international footballers Argentina men's youth international footballers Men's association football central defenders Argentine Primera División players Serie A players Premier League players Club Atlético Belgrano footballers Genoa CFC players Juventus FC players Atalanta BC players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players 2021 Copa América players 2022 FIFA World Cup players 2024 Copa América players Copa América-winning players FIFA World Cup-winning players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in England Argentine expatriate sportspeople in England