Rodrigo Bentancur was the centre of attention during Ange Postecoglou’s press conference before the north London derby for two very different reasons.
There is a good chance Bentancur will start at the base of Tottenham Hotspur’s midfield against Arsenal on Sunday, because Yves Bissouma suffered a groin injury in Mali’s 1-0 victory over Eswatini on Tuesday. If so, Bentancur will be responsible for shackling Kai Havertz in one of the game’s most important head-to-head battles.
It might turn out to be one of the last appearances the 27-year-old makes for some time. On Thursday, he was charged with an alleged aggravated breach of the Football Association’s rules over comments he made about his team-mate Son Heung-min three months ago. Bentancur said Tottenham’s captain and his cousins “all look the same” on the television programme Por La Camiseta, which is broadcast in his native Uruguay. If he is found guilty or does not contest the charge, he could receive a six-to-12-game ban. He has until September 19 to respond.
Bentancur apologised to Son on social media and said it was “a joke in bad taste”. Tottenham later released a statement saying Son wanted to “draw a line under the incident”.
When Postecoglou was asked about it for the first time in July, he said “the most important person in that whole process is Sonny, so he’ll guide us and he’ll direct us. It’s being dealt with and I’m sure there will be further actions behind it but, at the moment, I think with all of these kind of things it’s easier to jump in and make judgments. But I always think the most important people are the ones affected and in this case it’s Sonny and we’ll be guided by him.”
Due to the timing of Bentancur’s comments, after the domestic season finished and just before he represented Uruguay at the Copa America, the issue appeared to go away. He missed Tottenham’s pre-season tour to Japan and South Korea because he was on holiday after the Copa America, but started their opening Premier League game against Leicester City. Bissouma missed the 1-1 draw with Leicester because he had been banned by the club for one match after footage emerged of him appearing to inhale nitrous oxide from a balloon. Allowing Bentancur to go unpunished but suspending Bissouma felt like the wrong message. Tottenham said they were waiting to see whether Bentancur would be charged by the FA before deciding their next steps.
On Friday, after the FA announced the charge, Postecoglou said Bentancur had made a “big error” and that “he has got to take the punishment”.
“We all make mistakes,” Postecoglou added. “I’ve said before, for me it is not just about punishment but it is an opportunity for people to atone and to learn. If we’re talking about having a society that is understanding and tolerant of everything, we must also show that to people who make mistakes as Rodri has made in this time.”
Every week, Spurs supporters from Asia line up outside the training ground trying to catch a glimpse of Son. Lee, who lives near Seoul and has been following them for 16 years, was “annoyed” by Bentancur’s comments.
“A lot of fans in Korea said it was a disgrace,” he told The Athletic. “They were angry at the club. The club support the (Premier League’s) ‘No Room for Racism’ campaign before matches but fans were disappointed with their statement and treatment. I was OK with it but Bentancur has to find a way to learn and be responsible for his actions.”
Bentancur’s comments were “unacceptable” according to Chris Ding, a student originally from China. “I would like to believe he did not intentionally mean to hurt anyone but, as a fan, hearing that is very harmful and offensive,” Ding said.
Kick It Out, the anti-discrimination and inclusion charity, received 1,332 reports of abuse during the 2023-24 Premier League season — a 33.2 per cent increase on the previous one. It says 731 (54 per cent) related to racism, and that a third of that figure were about comments directed towards people with East Asian heritage.
Last November, a supporter who made a racist gesture towards Son during the home league fixture against Crystal Palace in May 2023 was banned from attending football matches for three years.
Kick It Out said it received “a significant” number of complaints about Bentancur’s remarks too, and that these had been “sent to the club and the relevant authorities”.
This was not the only incident of alleged racism towards a South Korean player in the summer. Hwang Hee-chan was the victim of an alleged racist remark during Wolverhampton Wanderers’ pre-season game against Como in July. Wolves said they would submit a formal complaint to UEFA but the Italian side accused them of “blowing the incident out of proportion”.
“We spoke to the defender in question to understand what was said,” Mirwan Suwarso, official representative of Como’s ownership group, said. “He has told us the comment he made, to his co-defender, was, ‘Ignore him, he thinks he’s Jackie Chan’.
“Having spoken to our player at length, we are confident this was in reference to the player’s name, and to the constant references of ‘Channy’ made by his own team-mates on the pitch. As far as our club is concerned our player did not say anything in a derogatory manner.”
Sungmo Lee is a South Korean journalist and he believes “racism towards Asian players is dealt with very lightly or ignored”.
“Korean fans and maybe a wider pool of Asian fans believe that, when the Premier League and European leagues deal with racism, they are mostly dealing with the issue as if it’s only between white and black players,” he said. “But there are many Asian players in Europe who are victims of racism. The football authorities need to make it clear that racism towards Asian players will be dealt with seriously.”
Ideally, this situation would have been resolved before the start of the campaign. Instead, Bentancur could have a significant role to play in one of the biggest fixtures of the season, even though a potentially lengthy ban hangs over him.
(Top photo: Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)
