Tottenham Hotspur defender Cristian Romero has sung the praises of one of his teammates on the back of his recent form.
In a season which has provided Tottenham with a lot of challenges through injuries, Cristian Romero has remained a constant in the side.
The Argentine’s only omission from the starting XI came following that controversial red card in the defeat against Chelsea.
Having been made vice captain in the summer, the 25-year-old has taken on a role of responsibility this season which has seen an improved version of the centre-back.
But he has been shifting the praise on to one of his teammates in recent days following a difficult spell he had endured at the club.
Romero names player who has improved massively under Ange
Perhaps one of the surprise packages this season under Ange Postecoglou has been the resurgence of Richarlison in the starting XI.
The 26-year-old has a dreadful 2022/23 season under Antonio Conte having only scored the one goal in the Premier League.
And the summer saw the Brazilian provided with a mammoth task of replacing the club’s record goalscorer following Harry Kane‘s move to Bayern Munich.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Richarlison, from Tottenham stats to huge back tattoo
But it is not just struggles with injuries which the Brazilian has had to deal with, his battle with his own mental health has been well documented in recent month.
And it is something which his teammates are clearly very proud of him for opening up on with Romero sharing his praise for the Brazilian.
Speaking to an Argentine outlet, Romero hailed Richarlison as one of the club’s most important players now.
He said: “I know he had a bad time, we talk all the time. I know he didn’t have the best time, he had some personal problems, but the important thing is that he is well, happy.
“I see him very well, he had suffered an injury, he is coming back little by little and for us he is a very important player. Until he got injured, he was in the best way, at a great level.”
Is Richarlison fully fit?
It has been a much improved season from the Brazilian who returned nine goals in 10 games prior to picking up his recent knee issue.
An injury which didn’t seem overly serious given the 26-year-old told the Brazilian media he would return the following week for the trip to Villa Park.
That did not transpire and Richarlison played a mere 10 minutes of football prior to the recent international break.
Having not featured for Brazil in either of their friendlies, Postecoglou has since handed Richarlison 13 minutes of action over the last two games.
To many, that would suggest Richarlison is not in a fit state to be returning to the squad, however, that is not what Ange Postecoglou has suggested recently.
Ahead of the Luton Town game, he said: “Yeah, yeah, he was much better after the game and he felt a lot better. He trained yesterday and he’ll train this afternoon. He feels good now.”
What will be interesting to see is whether the Brazilian is thrown back into the XI on Sunday against Nottingham Forest after what was a fairly blunt display from the Spurs attack on Tuesday.
Brennan Johnson may have capped off a well-worked goal inside five minutes, but West Ham were able to hold Spurs off pretty easily for the remainder of the game.
Richarlison’s return could provide Spurs with a different dynamic going forward, but it would also likely see Timo Werner drop out of the side.
Heung-min Son cannot be uprooted from the starting XI and Johnson’s recent form is too good to ignore which would surely demote the German to the bench.