Paul Robinson says Tottenham would miss Cristian Romero on Sunday when they face Newcastle United after it emerged that he will not return early from international duty with Argentina.
The match at St James’ Park will be in front of a strong capacity crowd as it would be Newcastle’s first game under new ownership and Robinson fears Spurs’ defence will be exposed without Romero.
The Daily Mail reports that Giovani Lo Celso and Romero will not be allowed to return to the club early.
This comes after their national team manager, Lionel Scaloni confirmed there would be no premature return for the Premier League players in his squad.
It means both players would still be in South America when Argentina faces Peru on Friday.
Spurs play Newcastle 48 hours later and they cannot be involved in the league game.
Former Tottenham first choice, Robinson believes Romero’s absence would leave a huge void in their team for the match.
He told Fooball Insider: “The atmosphere is going to be incredible.
“The takeover has brought a buzz to the area. You have seen the fans in the last week. The first game at St. James’ is going to be the pinnacle.
“It is going to be a tough game for Spurs in that atmosphere. Spurs are the far better team though.
“Romero will be a big miss for them, especially if [Callum] Wilson is back.
“Romero should have been playing from the start of the season. He showed in the last game that he is an elite centre-half. They will miss him dearly. I think they could have some problems back there without him.”
How can we miss a player who has only played 3 out of 7 EPL games? I think he is better than what we have, but he can’t be up to standard yet…….just like most of our squad.
Bad news.. Rodon and Dier then for me.. Joe has the minerals.