Just a day before the Saturday fixture against Leeds United in the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur announced the contract extension of center midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur, which was a move that was widely reported to happen.
If you told a Spurs supporter before the 2025/26 campaign started that the club would be extending Bentancur some time around October, it's doubtful they would have so much as raised an eyebrow at you. Bentancur came into the season as a pillar of the midfield and pretty much a nailed-on starter as the only stabilizing presence on the ball in the Ange Postecoglou years.
Now, though, Spurs fans were befuddled that Bentancur was being rewarded with a contract extension for multiple seasons at the age of 28 when he's looked slow, uncreative, and downright poor in recent games, including against inferior opponents.
In his first game with the new deal, Bentancur looked the same, which isn't a good thing. He was slow, sloppy on the ball, created absolutely nothing, failed to progress the play, and repeatedly got overrun by the Leeds midfield. While he defended with effort, Bentancur's defending often feels more like a back-to-the-wall job and less like an act of ball-winning aggression like that of his teammates Joao Palhinha, Pape Matar Sarr, and Lucas Bergvall.
Rodrigo Bentancur doesn't play like a veteran footballer
Bentancur attempted just 30 passes against Leeds, which was fewer than goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, the entire back line, and midfield partner Palhinha. While he was certainly more accurate than Palhinha, a pass completion percentage below 87 for someone who was effectively a sideways passer and literally attempted no long balls, through balls, or crosses is hardly worth praising.
The 28-year-old doesn't play like a veteran midfielder, and he definitely didn't play like one against a newly promoted side. Bentancur shies away from the action too often. He doesn't command the ball, he doesn't demand progression, and he isn't wiling to try new things to push for victory.
Tottenham have to be looking at these performances and thinking more critically about the future of this squad. Bentancur somehow started over Archie Gray, Sarr, and Bergvall this weekend and that clearly wasn't on merit, as evidenced by the results we saw.
Had it not been for moments of individual quality from Mohammed Kudus and Mathys Tel, Spurs would have lost this game without any doubt. They were not the clearly better side against a smaller budget team, and a lot of that has to do with how Bentancur set the tone for the team in the middle of the park. He was poor, but, troublingly, that's nothing new this season.