October 25th 2023.
Rodrigo Bentancur is getting ever closer to a long-awaited return to action. The Uruguayan midfielder has been out of action since sustaining an ACL tear in a 4-1 defeat to Leicester City back in February, but after months of rehabilitation he is now back in full training.
The Tottenham boss, Ange Postecoglou, intends to be careful with the 26-year-old given the length of his absence, but Bentancur is already making a splash in training. A clip posted on Tottenham’s social media showed the former Juventus player stunning his team-mates with an outrageous goal.
The players who did not start in Monday’s win over Fulham were taking part in a shooting drill and had to take one touch to control the ball before unleashing an effort. Backup goalkeeper Fraser Forster fizzed a half volley at the ankles of Bentancur, who controlled the ball perfectly and then in one motion slammed an effort past Hugo Lloris.
The rest of the players could hardly contain their excitement at seeing Bentancur nearly burst the back of the net, with Emerson Royal screaming and hugging his team-mate while youngster Alejo Veliz had his hands on his head in disbelief; even goalkeeper coach Rob Burch was taken aback.
Although Bentancur is eager to get back on the pitch after such a long lay-off, Postecoglou will be taking it slow with him. Last week the Australian coach said: “We’ll be careful with him. We’ve drip-fed him into training in the last sort of month and he’s coped pretty well with that. Now he’s in to full training. We’ve got to be mindful that he’s missed a fair bit of football.”
Prior to his injury, Bentancur had been in superb form for Spurs, scoring six times in 24 appearances across the Premier League and Champions League last season. Postecoglou will be keen to get him up to speed before January when Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr are due to leave for the Africa Cup of Nations.
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