Ange Postecoglou: Important for Spurs to keep hold of ‘winner’ Cristian Romero | OneFootball

Ange Postecoglou has insisted it is imperative Tottenham keep hold of Cristian Romero this summer.

Postecoglou’s own future is up for debate with no clarity around his position despite being the first Spurs head coach in 17 years to win silverware.

A 4-1 home loss to Brighton on Sunday consigned Tottenham to a worst-ever Premier League finish of 17th place and Argentina international Romero, a key figure in Wednesday’s Europa League triumph over Manchester United, was conspicuous by his absence in the post-match lap of honour.

World Cup-winner Romero has been heavily linked with a move to Atletico Madrid and only has two years to run on his contract.

But Postecoglou said: “Yeah, look I think Romero is absolutely important to keep at this football club.

“You just saw the way he’s been in the last (weeks) and he hasn’t been fully fit to be fair with his toe, but you’ve seen he’s a World Cup winner.

“He is a winner. You saw that in all the big games we’ve had and the lads certainly respect him very highly.

“He makes them walk a bit taller, so yeah from my perspective it is a no-brainer that making sure players like him (stay), because if he goes, who do you replace him with?

“There is not too many out there like him. It will be very important for the club to try and retain him, and retain him for the longer-term I think.”

A number of decisions are required quickly at Tottenham with four players out of contract and a call on Bayern Munich loanee Mathys Tel to be made.

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The biggest of them all is whether or not chairman Daniel Levy decides to keep Postecoglou, who has presided over a poor Premier League campaign, but delivered the holy grail at the club of an eagerly awaited trophy.

The context of a league campaign with a club-record 22 defeats is the injury crisis Postecoglou navigated between November and March, while recently he has prioritised Europa League success at all costs but the 59-year-old is confident his team could handle multiple competitions next season.

“From my perspective, I made decisions that I felt were giving us the best chance of achieving the goal we needed to achieve this year and that has affected our league form,” Postecoglou said.

“At the end of two years, I’ve got the club a trophy it has been crying out for, Champions League football, we finished fifth last year.

“I have got no doubt next year we will be in a much stronger position, challenging for the top places.

“I have got no doubt we will tackle the Champions League with the same determination that we tackled the Europa League. I have no doubts about that.”

Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler introduced James Milner late on at Spurs for only his fourth appearance of the campaign and hopes it was not a farewell outing for the veteran.

Hurzeler added: “Even when he was injured, he travelled to a lot of away games, he showed great effort and I think that’s the only thing I could give him back.