Ange Postecoglou has new Rodrigo Bentancur fear but it could help him and Tottenham
Tottenham Hotspur and their head coach will have concerns about their recovered midfielder as he heads off across the world and away from the nest
Ange Postecoglou might just watch the international games in the coming fortnight with his hands clasped and pleading to any kind of higher power for mercy on his injury-hit squad and there is one Tottenham player in particular those words might turn to.
For the first time in nine months, Rodrigo Bentancur’s medical and fitness situation is outside of Tottenham’s control. The 26-year-old has returned to the Uruguay squad for the first time since he played for his country at the World Cup last year. Some might remember that the last time he played international football came at that competition in Qatar, in the victory against Ghana, when Bentancur tore an adductor muscle and missed a month-and-a-half of football, including five matches for Tottenham when the Premier League returned.
That timeframe is of course nothing compared to the eight months out that the midfielder endured after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament at the King Power Stadium in February, exactly a month after returning to Spurs’ team.
Now, after just 56 minutes of football officially – that’s not including added time at the end of games which chucks in another 20 minutes or so – Bentancur is heading off to potentially start some tough matches for Uruguay for the first time under Marcelo Bielsa, a man renowned for pushing his players to the limit with high energy football.
Postecoglou will have to hope that with the 68-year-old Argentine being well aware of what it requires to play his kind of football, which is not too dissimilar to the energy required for the Australian’s system, he should know that Bentancur is not ready to head into his style at full tilt for 90 minutes just yet.
Tottenham have been taking it carefully with the midfielder, despite Bentancur knocking on Postecoglou’s door long before he eventually made his return to the team. The medical team at Spurs have been urging caution after such a serious injury for fear of a reoccurrence or injuring other areas of the player’s body that have not been exposed to strain and the physical load of Premier League football in the past nine months.
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Even as recently as Friday, ahead of Saturday’s defeat at Wolves, the Spurs head coach admitted to football.london: “We’ve got to be careful with Bentancur a bit.”
Yet the Uruguayan has been champing at the bit not only to play more for Tottenham but also return to the international fold for Uruguay. He has felt no pain in his knee for a long time in a recovery process that went as well as he would have hoped, if not for the gradual return to the team, which was longer than he expected and he claimed changed at one point along the way.
“I did not suffer in my recovery. The knee reacted very well to all the stimuli and increased loads during the process. They only took fluids from me three times,” he said in an interview with Uruguayan radio station Sport 890 a fortnight ago.
“The last two months my subconscious began to win over me because I was already ready to play. They changed the deadlines to avoid relapses, they ask you for almost nine months and they didn’t want me to return until November 21.”
In the end, Bentancur was back earlier than that on October 27, coming on late in the win at Crystal Palace and then last week had two half hour or so stints within five days against Chelsea and Wolves.
That brings him to a position where Spurs can no longer hold him back from international football and they must trust in the Uruguayan coaching and medical staff to maintain his gradual process.
Of his time out from international football, Bentancur said in that same interview: “I saw the team, I really liked the performance. The coaching staff was in contact with me asking how the recovery was going. I am available and if Bielsa calls me I am at your disposal.
“If it was for me, I was going to play for the national team in September because I’m dying to always be there. I had two talks with Bielsa, in which he explained movements and aspects of the game to me.”
While Postecoglou will be worried about losing another big player this season to injury, there will also no doubt be a part of him that knows that if used carefully Bentancur could benefit from the game time to return as the key man he needs to reinvigorate a Tottenham team reeling from the loss of James Maddison and Micky van de Ven.
Bentancur has thus far shown little glimpses of what he will bring when he is fully fit but it will take him time to get back the sharpness and fitness to be the game changer he was for Tottenham last season when he produced a string of important goals and moments in matches.
The Uruguayan would not be a direct replacement for Maddison but as a number eight he has the dribbling and passing ability to shine in Postecoglou’s formation, as well as the ability to ghost into the opposition box at key moments to fire home important goals.
His international duty will bring two games in quick succession with a tough World Cup qualifying match away against Cristian Romero’s Argentina on Friday (midnight UK time) and then a home game against Bolivia on Tuesday evening (11.30pm UK time).
That spicy Argentina match would be a worry for Spurs with fast and furious challenges likely, not least from Romero, but equally Uruguay will want to be one of the best players on the pitch to face their old foes.
It’s going to be a case of watching through fingers with fear for Tottenham fans and maybe even Postecoglou but if Bentancur comes through it, his confidence, fitness and sharpness will be given a major boost just when the team needs it the most.
