Son Heung-min wasn’t the only one playing through injury. Tottenham Hotspur teammate Rodrigo Bentancur also played through an injury.
“Bentancur has been playing with a broken pinky toe for Tottenham and Uruguay in recent weeks,” said Alasdair Gold of Football London, who broke the news on March 25, adding, “He broke his pinky toe in training ahead of the match against Crystal Palace on Wednesday.”
“I didn’t want to take time off to heal the toe because I wanted to play for Tottenham and Uruguay,” he said, “but now I’m feeling very good and I’m 100%.”
Bentancur hasn’t played much since last season due to injury. His decision to play despite the pinky toe injury was due to the fact that he had missed so many games previously.
He suffered a ruptured cruciate ligament in February last year during an away match against Leicester City in the Premier League during the 2022-2023 season.
At first, it didn’t seem like a major injury, but after the game, Tottenham announced that the long-term injury would keep him out for the rest of the season and possibly the early part of next season. The injury kept him off the field for nine months. Upon his return, the injury struck again. He had just come off the bench in three league games and played two A matches.
Bentancur made his first start in a league match against Aston Villa in November. It was his first start since returning from injury. Bentancur’s run didn’t last long. In the 32nd minute, opposing defender Matt Cash tackled Bentancur in possession of the ball and he went down. He was immediately substituted, and after the game, Bentancur was diagnosed with an ankle ligament injury.
About a month later, in January, Bentancur returned to the field. Since then, he’s been an integral part of Tottenham’s squad, starting and coming off the bench.
But Bentancur hasn”t been injury-free. He has played through them. He didn’t want the team to suffer from his absence. It seems that he was frustrated that he hadn”t played for a while.
Bentancur wasn”t the only one who played through injuries at Tottenham. Captain Son Heung-min has also played through injuries. After suffering an injury at the Asian Cup, Son played with bandages on his index and middle fingers in the league. Despite this, he has been Tottenham’s ace in the hole.
In an interview ahead of their match against Thailand on March 21, Son said that his finger injury wasn’t too bad, and that Tottenham manager Anzhi Postecoglou said he could play through it.
Bentancur is an essential resource for Tottenham.
Since returning from injury, he hasn’t been used as much as he used to be, but he’s an indispensable member of the midfield core. Currently, Tottenham’s midfield is made up of Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr. In the first half, they were solid in the center of the pitch, but in the second half, mistakes started to come from them. They also looked physically tired.
Bentancur, who hasn’t played in a while, will have to step up to the plate and shore up Tottenham’s midfield.
The other candidate, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, has been out of form. Bentancur could be expected to play a different role than Bissouma and Sarr, as he’s very active and has good movement in the center of the field, sometimes finding himself inside the opponent’s penalty box and scoring goals.
Bentancur is currently called up to the Uruguayan national team for a friendly against Ivory Coast on June 27th. Uruguay will need Bentancur’s performance as they prepare for the Copa America in June. Barring injury, Bentancur is a key midfielder for Uruguay.
“My ankle injury is fine now, my knee has recovered thankfully,” he said of his condition, “I broke one of my toes and it was impossible not to play to heal it.” He showed a strong will to play.