Report: David Pleat shares the change he’s noticed with Rodrigo Bentancur at Tottenham since his injury

 

Rodrigo Bentancur hasn’t had the easiest time of it at Tottenham as of late.

The Uruguayan midfielder has had numerous injury issues in recent seasons.

Bentancur suffered an ACL injury two years ago against Leicester, while he suffered another serious injury against Aston Villa last season.

Bentancur also picked up an nasty head injury against Leicester at the beginning of this season.

Suffice to say, luck hasn’t been on Bentancur’s side as of late.

Meanwhile, on the pitch, Bentancur’s game has changed a little bit.

Indeed, speaking on The View from the Lane, David Pleat has been discussing the midfielder, and he’s noted that Bentancur’s position seems to have changed since he returned from injury.

Rodrigo Bentancur has changed as a player

The pundit says that he really rates Bentancur as a player, but he says that he’s dropped back and has become a deeper midfield player since his injury.

“When Udogie and Porro go forwards it leaves a problem for Van de Ven and Romero, it’s difficult for them, You need a holding midfielder with a real defensive head. At the moment it’s Bentancur, he’s a very fine player, he was so good, but he got an injury from Matty Cash. He was playing more forward in that game, but now, it looks like he’s become with Bissouma one of the more holding midfield players.”

Bentancur’s spot has been taken

As Pleat says, once upon a time, Bentancur was Tottenham’s go-to guy in terms of that attack-minded midfield position, but, nowadays, that spot belongs to someone else.

James Maddison has come to the fore at Tottenham over the past 12 months, and Maddison has earned plenty of praise for his showings for Spurs.

However, more crucially, Dejan Kulusevski has been playing in that number eight role this season, and he has been impressing.

Indeed, even Ian Wright has been impressed by what Kulusevski is doing.

“Especially Kulusevski dropping off into that eight, it looks like a whole new offensive player in that area of the field,” said Wright.

“To have a player with that type of capability, everyone thinks he is a winger coming in off the right-hand side. But to be able to drop back. It’s Kai Havertz type of energy. He can come in down the right, of course, Kai can play down the centre as well.

 

“But for him (Kulusevski), with his technical ability, pace and his passing ability. It was perfect for him. They have really unearthed something with him playing in the eight there.”

Unfortunately, this has meant that Bentancur has had to drop into a deeper midfield role, and he has been quite unspectacular in that position this season it has to be said.

Fingers crossed Bentancur can rediscover his best form for Spurs, because, on his day, he’s absolutely brilliant.

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