Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur is currently in the last year of his contract, but he might not be for much longer. Writing in Football.London, Spurs beat reporter Alasdair Gold says that
the Uruguayan is close to agreeing to a contract extension that will keep him at the club beyond 2026.
Coming into this season, it was generally understood it it was the right time for Spurs to make a decision to stick or twist on one of the club’s two peak-age central midfielders — Bentancur and Yves Bissouma. Both are nearly on the wrong side of 30 (Bentancur is 28, Bissouma 29) and the smart money was to move one or both of them on this past summer and invest in a younger, up and coming central midfielder who could make progressive passes and potentially develop into the next big star.
Instead, Tottenham sold neither Bissouma nor Bentancur (though, it should be said, not for lack of trying with Yves) and signed Joao Palhinha from Bayern Munich on loan, a player in a similarish defensive midfield mold. It’s for this reason that I can’t quite figure out the decision to extend Bentancur’s stay. He’s a fine player, but not without limitations, one of them being, obviously, his age. Details about the contract extension aren’t revealed, but unless it’s a short term, high wages deal then Spurs are committing the club to a player in Bentancur who, frankly, has shown himself to be a good player, but not an especially great one, until his early 30s.
The flip side to this argument is that Spurs might think the idea of replacing Bissouma, Bentancur, and possibly Palhinha (if Spurs decide not to pick up his purchase option) is too much for one window. They may be right about that, which is why it’s baffling they didn’t do more to shift one of Bentancur or Bissouma this past summer. There are significant holes in this Tottenham midfield, ones that extending Bentancur doesn’t really address, and extending him would just kick that particular can down the road. Extending him keeps a popular player and clubhouse leader with a great amount of Premier League experience around, and there is value to that. But I’m not sure the benefits outweigh the costs of playing it safe here.
I don’t really mind Rodrigo Bentancur and on his day he’s capable of putting in a fantastic and game-defining shift. I also get why Thomas Frank likes him. That said, we already know he doesn’t work together with Joao Palinha in Spurs’ midfield, and by extending him we’re getting dangerously close to the “Casemiro danger zone” with an aging and still peak-age player heading towards the twilight years of his career who no longer has much return on his investment. Whether it’s a high wage/short duration extension or a more moderate multi-year contract, it sure feels like Spurs are setting the stage to eventually let Bentancur walk from the club for nothing. That’s happened way too many times in recent years for me to be particularly happy about this, and doesn’t make me feel any better about Tottenham’s squad construction under Johan Lange.
