Tottenham defender Cristian Romero will remain out of action for several weeks due to a ‘serious’ hamstring injury and Antonio Conte has targeted three potential replacements in Serie A.
Romero picked up an injury while on international duty with Argentina last month and was absent for games against Leeds and Burnley, which, however, was postponed.
“The injury is serious. I think it’ll take time to see him again,” Conte said at a press conference. “Surely next year, we need to check his injury week by week but the injury is serious.
“Now he’s trying to recover but he needs a long time. Time to recover. It’s a pity because you know he’s an important player for us. The injury is very serious. Next year – January, February, I don’t know but for sure in 2021 he has finished playing.”
Romero joined Tottenham from Atalanta in a €57m deal over the summer and has played 13 games across all competitions with Spurs.
Tottenham will be looking to strengthen their squad in January and need a new centre-back to replace the Argentinean.
They have been linked with several defenders in Serie A, especially Stefan de Vrij, Nikola Milenkovic and Matthijs de Ligt.
Milenkovic and De Vrij see their deals with Fiorentina and Inter expire in June 2023, both players could leave in the summer, but Football Italia understands neither Serie A clubs want to sell them in January.
The same goes for De Ligt at Juventus, but according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Bianconeri may be forced to sacrifice the Dutchman if they miss out on a top-four finish.
De Ligt will have a €150m clause included in his contract from the summer.
Paratici signed him at Juventus in an €85.5m deal from Ajax in 2019.
Milenkovic, De Ligt and De Vrij are high-profile defenders whose clubs don’t want to sell in January, so Tottenham would need a big-money offer to convince Fiorentina, Inter or Juventus to sell their stars in the middle of the season.
Difficult to see any of them joining in January Devrij seems the most likely, if anyone is. Milenkovuc rumours are a bit quiet at the moment and we simply cannot afford Deligt even if his current form is suspect.