Tottenham will make Cristian Romero’s move permanent, confirms Antonio Conte

Antonio Conte has confirmed that Tottenham will buy loanee Cristian Romero outright at the end of the season and has described the Argentine as “perfect” for the Premier League.

Romero joined Spurs from Atalanta on an initial season-long loan deal but with an obligation to make the move permanent for £42.5million in the summer, when the 23-year-old is expected to sign a five-year deal.

The deal predates Conte, who effectively considers Romero as a permanent member of the squad and described his return to fitness at the weekend as like “a new signing”.

“He’s on loan but we have an obligation to buy. We bought him!” Conte said ahead of Wednesday’s visit of Southampton in the League.

“He is perfect for this league. But if you can play in this league you can play in all the leagues in the world. The problem is when you stay in another league, you have to ask if you can play in the Premier League. But when you play here, you can play in any league in the world.

“Because the intensity, the quality, the physicality that you have here is not present in other leagues. For sure Romero is able to play in this league. This league is a perfect suit for him.”

Romero returned from a three-month lay-off with a hamstring injury for Saturday’s 3-1 FA Cup win over Brighton and put in a commanding performance at the heart of Conte’s three-man defence.

Spurs’ back line suffered when Romero and Eric Dier were missing in January but Conte chose to see the positives in the former’s absence.

“It was a great opportunity to improve, to develop players that maybe if Romero was fit, couldn’t play or didn’t play – [Japhet] Tanganga, [Davinson] Sanchez and [Ben] Davies,” Conte said.

“In the difficulty of his injury we have found other players that can