Currently in poor form, fresh controversy has hit Tottenham Hotspur, leading to Rodrigo Bentancur receiving a seven-match suspension from domestic matches, according to reports. The 27-year-old was charged by the FA for an ‘aggravated breach’ after a racist comment about Tottenham teammate Son Heung-min.
The seven-match suspension means that the Uruguay midfielder will be out of action until mid-December. The incident happened in June when a reporter asked Bentancur on a Uruguayan TV interview, “Can you get me the shirt from the Korean?”
Bentancur asked, “Sonny?”
The journalist added, “Or any other champion.”
The Tottenham midfielder responded “Or any cousin of Sonny, they all look more or less the same.”
Since then, Bentancur has apologised to Son, and also released a statement on social media. He said,
“Sonny brother. I apologise to you for what happened, it was just a very bad joke.”
“You know I love you and I would never disrespect you or hurt you or anyone else! I love you, brother!”
The South Korean attacker also accepted the apology. “He apologised straight afterwards when we [were on] holiday. I was at home, I didn’t even realise what was going on. He just sent me a long message, and you could feel it was coming from his heart”, he said.
“When we came back to the training ground for pre-season, he was really sorry and he almost cried. He apologised in public and personally as well. It felt like he was really sorry. We’re all human, we make mistakes, we learn from it. I love Rodrigo, I love him, I love him. He knows he made a mistake but I have no problem at all. We move on as a team-mate, as a friend, as a brother. We move on together,” he added.
A key cog in the Spurs unit, Bentancur will still be able to play in the Europa League, with matches against Roma and Rangers coming up. He is set to miss the Premier League fixtures vs Manchester City, Fulham, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Southampton and Liverpool. He will also miss the Carabao Cup quarter-final match vs Manchester United.
