Tottenham Hotspur are expecting midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur to be hit with a lengthy ban over comments he made relating to team-mate Son Heung-min.
Bentancur was charged with an alleged breach of Football Association (FA) rules in September over the comments.
The 27-year-old apologised after saying that South Korea international Son and his cousins “all look the same” on television programme Por la Camiseta, which is broadcast in his native Uruguay.
Bentancur said of the Spurs club captain, “Sonny, or a cousin of Sonny, they all look the same”. He later issued an apology to Son on social media.
“Sonny, brother! I am sorry for what happened, it was a joke in bad taste,” Bentancur said. “You know that I love you and I would never disrespect you or hurt you or anyone. I love you brother!”
Bentancur was accused of acting “in an improper manner and/or used abusive and/or insulting words and/or brought the game into disrepute.” The FA added in a statement that the charge further constitutes an “aggravated breach” under FA Rule E3.2, as it allegedly involved references to nationality, race, or ethnic origin.”
The exact length of the suspension is yet to be communicated but is expected to be significant and take in a number of matches.
Tottenham’s upcoming Premier League games include meetings with Manchester City, Fulham, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Southampton and Liverpool while they also face Manchester United in a Carabao Cup quarter-final in December.
Speaking later in September, Son said that Bentancur had “almost cried” when formally apologising for his comments.
“The process is with the FA and that’s why I can’t say much about it, but I love Rodrigo,” Son said. “I repeat: I love him, I love him.
“We had a lot of good memories, we started playing together when he joined. He apologised straight afterwards, you know, when we had a holiday.
“I was at home and I didn’t even realise what was going on. He just sent me a long text message that you could feel was coming from his heart. Afterwards, when he came back to the training ground for pre-season, he just like felt really sorry and almost like cried when he apologised publicly and also personally as well. It felt like he feels really sorry.”
Bentancur has featured in 10 of 11 Premier League games for Tottenham this season, missing the 4-0 victory over Everton due to a head injury sustained in the previous match, a draw against Leicester City. He has also appeared in three of their four Europa League matches.
(Malcolm Couzens/Getty Images)
