Former Leeds United and current Uruguay manager Marcelo Bielsa has been full of praise for one Tottenham Hotspur star, in particular.
Since being appointed manager of Uruguay, former Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa has been quite a popular appointment for the South American side, even with his Argentinian routes.
Bielsa has been able to get the best out of Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez, as the former Benfica forward has netted seven times in seven consecutive games for the national team.
Uruguay took apart Bolivia 5-0 in the Copa America and Nunez scored yet again. However, Bielsa was full of praise for a different player, who has gone under the radar for his national team.
Bielsa’s praise for Tottenham midfielder Bentancur
Rodrigo Bentancur, the former Juventus midfielder, has had countless injury problems since his move to Tottenham Hotspur back in January of 2022, alongside Swedish winger Dejan Kulusevski.
However, for his national team, particularly since Bielsa’s appointment, he has excelled and the 68-year-old Argentine was full of praise for Bentancur’s performances.
When asked about the midfield pairing of Bentancur and Real Madrid’s Fede Valverde, Bielsa was keen to praise his midfielders.
“Scoring always increases self-esteem, especially if they are players who do not have scoring goals as their main quality,” Bielsa told ESPN.
“Valverde’s goal represents him, it is very much in his style, at several moments in today’s game he resembled the player who shines at Real Madrid, and that is something very important for us and for him.
“Bentancur is a great player, and I think it is good for him to find the goal.”
Bentancur’s big season for Spurs
Since moving to the Premier League two and a half years ago, Bentancur has featured in 46 games in the division for Spurs.
The injury issues that Bentancur has had to deal with has meant that Pape Sarr and Yves Bissouma has been Ange Postecoglou’s go-to starting midfield pairing.
Despite the injury issues, it appears that Postecoglou remains a big fan of the Uruguay midfielder when he told the BBC back in December: “The biggest emotion you have is for him. I’ve only been here six months but in that six months you see how hard they work to get back, particularly him.
“He also knows that he hasn’t lost anything as a footballer and that’s the important thing. That has given him the incentive to get back as quickly as possible and make an impact for us.”
There is no doubt that Bentancur is in for a vital season in North London.
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