Tottenham star Rodrigo Bentancur hit with seven-game ban for comments on teammate Son Heung-min
Tottenham Hotspur’s ongoing problems in the season has taken another hit, with the FA officially slapping Rodrigo Bentancur with a seven-game domestic ban for his comments on teammate Son Heung-min earlier this year.
The South American midfielder later apologized on his official Instagram account and said his comments were a “very bad joke”. Son Heung-min accepted the apology and insisted that his Tottenham teammate had “made a mistake”. Although the pair have moved on from the incident, the FA conducted their own survey and have now confirmed that Rodrigo Bentancur has been found guilty of a breach of their rules.
In their official statement, The FA stated that an independent regulatory commission has imposed a seven-match suspension and a £100,000 fine on the Spurs midfielder after his comments were found to have breached the FA’s Rule E3.1 in relation to a media interview. They revealed that Bentancur had initially denied this charge but the regulatory commission found that the central midfielder had definitely breached the rules.
The 27-year-old will now miss Spurs’ league games against Manchester City, Fulham, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Southampton and Liverpool. He will also be banned for the Carabao Cup quarter-final against Manchester United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on December 19.
This means his next involvement in a domestic game for Spurs will be the Premier League trip to Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day. Despite the ban in cup competitions, the Uruguayan will be eligible to play in the Europa League games against AS Roma and Rangers.
Bentancur has been an integral part of Ange Postecoglou’s side this season. He has played 15 times for the Lilywhites thus far, scoring his first goal of the campaign in a shock 2-1 defeat to newly promoted Ipswich Town on 11 November.
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The 27-year-old’s absence is a big blow for Postecoglou, who will now have to rely on the likes of Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr and Archie Gray to cover the upcoming games.
Bissouma and Sarr aren’t natural defensive midfielders, so Gray could get a run in the Premier League having yet to start a league game for Spurs since arriving from Leeds United in the summer.
