Thomas Frank says Cristian Romero remains Tottenham captain despite outburst

Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank has confirmed Cristian Romero remains captain and has not been fined after his explosive social-media post.

Romero apologised to Spurs fans in an Instagram post after Wednesday’s 3-2 loss at Bournemouth and appeared to take aim at key figures at the club when he said “at times like this, it should be other people coming out to speak, but they don’t”.

World Cup-winner Romero went on to state “they only show up when things are going well” and “we are responsible, there’s no doubt about that. I am the first. But we will keep facing up to it and trying to turn the situation around.”

Romero is no stranger to a controversial social media post and notably pointed out “the many obstacles that always existed and always will exist” when he paid tribute to sacked Ange Postecoglou on his Instagram page in June.

However, the 27-year-old will not face any further disciplinary measure for his comments which sparked debate over the target of Romero’s frustration given Daniel Levy left his role in September and chief executive Vinai Venkatesham was only appointed in April.

Frank, who spoke with Romero on Thursday morning along with co-sporting director Johan Lange, said “He is our captain, he’s not been fined.

“That’s an internal thing, but we haven’t done that.

“I think there’s a lot of ways to deal with different situations. We’ve chose to have a good conversation with him, understand where he stands, handle it internally and that’s everything I have to say.”

Frank has repeated claimed the key figures at the club are aligned in recent media sessions, but was quizzed on if Romero shared that alignment given his social-media post.

He added: “That I can’t and you probably need to ask him. It is not that often he does do the press, so you need to wait until you speak to him, but what I know he has been here for five years, that’s one thing.

“And what I know is I look at where I have been here for seven months and I see a very aligned club, so it’s just up to us to prove that.”

Pushed on if Romero’s remarks may put off potential signings in January, Frank disagreed.

“I’m pretty sure that clever players and agents can look through if there’s a little bit of noise. I think it’s very important to stress that even though there’s noise, the club is very aligned,” Frank pointed out.

“Johan, Vinai and I are very aligned. Ownership is very aligned. We know it’s a tough spell that we need to get through.”

Spurs begin their FA Cup campaign on Saturday at home to Aston Villa, but will be without up to nine players after Lucas Bergvall (groin) and Rodrigo Bentancur (hamstring) suffered problems at Bournemouth.

Frank also confirmed Mohammed Kudus is unlikely to feature until after the March international break and Dejan Kulusevski will not return before February.

“If anyone can come back quicker it’s Deki (Kulusevski). The most important thing is to remove the pain in the knee and he got an injection 10 days ago and we’ll know in three to four weeks whether that has settled.

“And when it’s settled, hopefully he’ll be on the grass and from there we’ll see what’s happening.”