Tottenham Hotspur center midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur was one of the biggest losers of the summer transfer window, as the Lilywhites pretty much buried him on the depth chart by making two massive upgrades in his exact position, signing Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes as new pillars of the team for Roberto De Zerbi in the defensive midfield. Plus, young midfielder Lucas Bergvall is staying, so far, despite rampant transfer rumors that he badly wanted out following these two 185 million pound combined signings.
Spurs, though, had a very rough first Matchday of the 2026/27 Premier League stadium against local rivals Brentford. Tonali was dreadful in his debut in that regista role, as he could not cover up for the horrible play of Lucas Bergvall and Conor Gallagher, possibly because he himself was dreadful as well.
Tottenham were down 2-0 at the half and could do nothing to save face, but they did somewhat stop the bleeding, "only" losing 3-0 to Brentford in the end. And two of the big changes that Roberto De Zerbi made at half time was hooking off Bergvall and Gallagher for Mateus Fernandes and Rodrigo Bentancur.
Rodrigo Bentancur is still useful to Tottenham in 2026
Whlie Fernandes was the best of the two players and very much should be as an 85 million pound signing who was one of the biggest breakout stars of the 2025/26 Premier League season, Bentancur was also solid and helped elevate the team's floor in a way that Sandro Tonali was not able to.
Bentancur looked like he would not have much of a role on Tottenham this season after the signings of Tonali and Fernandes, but he outplayed the former on Matchday 1 and showed that there is still a use for him, especially in the beginning of the season as the players get integrated into the Roberto De Zerbi way of playing.
Another thing to keep in mind is Lucas Bergvall. De Zerbi and Spurs fans knew that the Swedish international is still far from ready to start in the Premier League, but he looked so bad against Brentford that it may be a while until he earns De Zerbi's confidence to even start another game at all, which means even more playing time for Bentancur.
Just like last season when Benta stabilized Tottenham when they were terrible and just as he was underrated and quietly great for Uruguay despite them being the flops of the World Cup, Bentancur was an asset when Spurs were falling apart against Brentford; he is someone De Zerbi can lean on and still has a use for Spurs right now.
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