Tottenham Hotspur center midfielder Sandro Tonali is coming off his best performance of the season so far, as he won four tackles and really helped solidify the team in their 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest. After getting beaten to almost every 50/50 ball against Brentford and Newcastel United as he was overrun in two woeful losses, the 100 million pound man finally looked like he was worth at least 40 million pounds in a clean sheet against a budding "rival" for the Lilywhites.
But funnily enough, Tonali, even in an improved performance, still wasn't the best midfielder on Tottenham. Just as Mateus Fernandes was outshining Tonali in the first two Matchdays, Rodrigo Bentancur, for a third game in a row, outperformed the Italian international.
Bentancur lost his starting job pretty early last season to Archie Gray, and he was largely forgotten after tearing his hamstring on international duty with Uruguay early in 2026. But when he came back and immediately started to play under Roberto De Zerbi, Bentancur almost turned back the clock to his best days at Tottenham and even Juventus, bossing the pitch and playing one of the most important roles in Tottenham surviving the Premier League relegation battle.
Rodrigo Bentancur is exceeding expectations this season
This season, Bentancur has been arguably even better to start the 2026/27 Premier League campaign, and he is showing Sandro Tonali levels, which is something Spurs fans did not expect. Bentancur was whispered in transfer rumors this summer after the Tonali and Fernandes dual swoop, and while Spurs were not seriously entertaining a sale of the Uruguayan international, it really shows you how much he is outpacing expectations when you see that he is showing up Tonali right now.
Rodrigo Bentancur played more creative and progressive passes to the forwards against Nottingham Forest, and in comparison to Tonali and Conor Gallagher, the former Serie A standout was the only real bit of quality on the ball in the middle of the park.
Right now, Bentancur is as much a pillar of the midfield trio as Mateus Fernandes or Tonali, and among all three of them, he, despite his lower transfer fee and reputation, has not been the worst of the bunch. Benta is outplaying Tonali, and that's a good thing, both for Bentancur and even for Tonali, in terms of lighting a fire under Roberto De Zerbi's pet favorite so that he knows there is no room for complacency this season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google