Tottenham: Fabio Paratici finds 'absolute gem' in £42.5m star

Tottenham have found an “absolute gem” in Cristian Romero, according to Sky Sports reporter Michael Bridge.

The Argentina international joined for £42.5m from Atalanta last summer and has made a promising start to his Premier League career.

Following a frustrating first few months as a Tottenham player, the centre-back is quickly coming into his own. Quarantine and injuries saw him feature in just seven of the opening 19 top-flight games, with a hamstring problem in November forcing him to miss more than two months of action.

But since Romero returned in early February, he’s made a huge difference to Spurs’ defence. He played a key role in the victory at Manchester City, before helping Antonio Conte’s side keep clean sheets in the recent wins over Leeds and Everton.

According to WhoScored, Romero makes the most blocks (1.2) and interceptions (1.5), in the Tottenham squad, while only Eric Dier averages more clearances than the 23-year-old (3.1), from players that have started a Premier League game this season.

Remarkably, Tottenham have a better win percentage (65) without Romero, compared to when he is in the starting XI (42) but Bridge praised Fabio Paratici for bringing him to North London following several years of questionable recruitment from the club.

He told GIVEMESPORT: “For all the criticism and recruitment at Tottenham over the last few seasons, they’ve found an absolute gem in Cristian Romero.”

Marcus Rashford CONSIDERING FUTURE at Man United! Find out more on The Football Terrace…

According to WhoScored, Davinson Sanchez has been Spurs’ best performing central defender this season.

That doesn’t do Romero justice, who’s been far from perfect since he made the switch from Italy but has already established