Cristian Romero open to LaLiga move but wants Europa League success with Spurs | OneFootball

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Tottenham vice-captain Cristian Romero has opened the door for a future move to LaLiga, but expressed his desire to win the Europa League.

Spurs slipped to another Premier League defeat on Monday night, their 18th of a poor domestic campaign, after a 2-1 loss at home to Nottingham Forest.

It occurred days after Ange Postecoglou’s team progressed into the last four of the Europa League with an impressive 1-0 victory at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Romero starred in Germany, but has endured an injury-hit season and only played 23 times while recent reports in Spain have linked the World Cup winner with a move to Atletico Madrid.

During an interview with Argentinian journalists Esteban and Gaston Edul, the 26-year-old spoke about his future with his current contract at Tottenham set to expire in the summer of 2027.

Asked what new league he would like to play in, Romero said in Spanish: “I’d love to play in LaLiga. I’d love to, honestly.

“We’ll see after the championship is over. The truth is, I haven’t spoken to my agent yet, but I’m open to anything. My goal is always to grow and go to new places to continue developing.

“Above all else, I try to take one day at a time. There are two months left until the end of the season and I’m always thinking about performing at my best.

“We’re in the Europa League semi-finals. It’s an important step for the club, which hasn’t reached this stage for so many years. I’d like to win it.”

Romero’s comments are unlikely to go down well at Tottenham, especially at a time when they are 16th in the Premier League.

Postecoglou revealed the decision to withdraw Romero and centre-back partner Micky van de Ven at half-time on Monday had been “pre-planned” and explained why it was important for the duo to start.

He added: “I thought they needed to play some minutes because it becomes 10 days leading into Liverpool (on Sunday).

“With both of them, we’ve got them in a really good place physically now and I just want to keep them ticking over. I felt that there was no need to play more than 45 minutes today and we needed to get a couple of others game time.”

Spurs boss Postecoglou also revealed Destiny Udogie was rested and unused substitute James Maddison was “fine” after being forced off in Frankfurt.

Third-placed Nottingham Forest switch focus to Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final with Manchester City and Nuno Espirito Santo reflected on the dramatic turnaround in fortunes they have experienced.

Asked if he expected to challenge for Champions League qualification, Nuno said: “We didn’t approach the competition like that.

“We just said how can we improve from last season? Last season, we were saved in the last game of the season at Burnley.

“As soon as we finished, it was just about improving, improving players, getting more out of them, that was the priority.

“The end of the season will bring anxiety, nerves and you have to deal with that.”