Roberto De Zerbi has admitted he faces an anxious wait over the fitness of Cristian Romero after the defender was forced off during Tottenham’s 1-0 loss to Sunderland.
The Argentine centre-back appeared to pick up a problem late in the second half, adding further misery to a disappointing afternoon for the North London side.
De Zerbi, who was taking charge of his first game as Spurs head coach, underlined how vital the World Cup winner is to his plans for the remainder of the season.
“We don’t know yet. We have to see in the next days,” De Zerbi said at his post-match press conference. “I hope for us it is not too important a problem because he is a crucial player for us.
“He is a good guy, top player, big personality, and we need him to finish the season and to achieve our goal.”
The timing of the injury proved particularly frustrating for De Zerbi, who had already used a window to make three tactical substitutions just moments before Romero went down.
“I changed three players and after one minute, Romero injury,” he explained. “I don’t want to say nothing [yet] because I don’t know.”