Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou believes that Rodrigo Bentancur made a “big error” and that “he has got to take the punishment” after the midfielder was charged with an alleged aggravated breach of the Football Association’s (FA) rules over comments he made about team-mate Son Heung-min.
Bentancur appeared on the television programme Por la Camiseta, which is broadcast in his native Uruguay, in June and said that South Korea international Son and his cousins “all look the same.”
The 27-year-old apologised to Spurs captain Son on social media but was charged by the FA over his comments on Thursday and has until September 19 to respond. If found guilty or the charge is uncontested, he could face a ban of six-to-12 games.
Postecoglou was asked about Son and Bentancur’s relationship ahead of the north London derby with rivals Arsenal on Sunday.
“In terms of Sonny and Rodri, they had a discussion about the whole incident,” Postecoglou said. “Both players understand and respect each other’s position and Rodri has already apologised for what he said. Sonny has accepted that and accepted the fact that one of his team-mates and a person he is close with has made a mistake.”
Postecoglou then stated that “it’s not just about punishment but the opportunity for people to learn and atone.”
“If we are talking about having a society that is understanding and tolerant of everything, we also must show that to people who make mistakes as Rodri has made in his time,” he added.
“We know him very well, a lot better than most because we spend every day with him and understand the kind of person he is. We understand that even though he is a great guy and a fantastic team-mate, he has made a big error this time and he has got to take the punishment but also we need to give him the opportunity to learn from it and atone from it and hopefully others learn from it as well.”
Bentancur could potentially feature against Arsenal as Yves Bissouma, who started Spurs’ last two games in the defensive midfield role, picked up a groin injury while on international duty with Mali.
“The initial reports is it’s not serious which means there is a chance for Sunday, which tells me it’s nothing significant,” Postecoglou said. “If he doesn’t make Sunday, then I’ll assume he’ll be right for after that. At the same time, he’s just come off a long flight, you never feel great anyway, we’ll see how he trains tomorrow and that will give the best indication.”
There is a good chance Micky van de Ven and club-record signing Dominic Solanke, who both missed Spurs’ 2-1 defeat to Newcastle United before the September international break, will feature against Arsenal after they took part in training on Friday.
(Julian Finney/Getty Images)
