‘Fabulous player’: Owen Hargreaves thinks Tottenham may have a ‘huge threat’ in Conte’s ranks

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Owen Hargreaves has praised Rodrigo Bentancur but feels that the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder can offer even more going forward.

Tottenham were in Champions League action on Wednesday night as they hosted Sporting in North London.

Antonio Conte would have loved a win to secure a last 16 place but Sporting proved to be a tough nut to crack again.

Marcus Edwards came back to haunt his former club by scoring a superb opener for Sporting, firing a low drive past Hugo Lloris.

Tottenham weren’t showing any kind of attacking fluency once again and their equaliser came from a set piece.

Owen Hargreaves has praised Rodrigo Bentancur

Ivan Perisic whipped in a corner with his left foot despite being predominantly right-footed and it found Rodrigo Bentancur to head home.

Tottenham pushed for a winner and thought they had one with Harry Kane’s dramatic last-gasp goal, only for VAR to intervene.

A Bentancur goal is something of a collector’s item though.

The Uruguayan scored against Leicester City in September for his first goal in a Tottenham shirt and now has a second.

Bentancur managed just three goals in 181 outings for Juventus, so it’s rare to see him on the scoresheet.

The 25-year-old was praised by Owen Hargreaves after the final whistle, telling BT Sport that he thinks Bentancur is a ‘fabulous’ player.

Hargreaves added that he thinks Bentancur can become a ‘huge threat’ if he begins to add more goals to his game.

“Bentancur doesn’t get many goals but he’s fabulous player,” said Hargreaves. “If he can add goals to his game, he’ll be a huge threat,” he added.

It’s clear that Bentancur has real technical ability and we see him dancing past players in the final third on occasion.

Yet when playing in a midfield two in Conte’s 3-4-3 setup, it’s difficult for Bentancur to really show off his attacking ability.

Conte may need to play a 3-5-2 in order for Bentancur to have that attacking freedom, and with Dejan Kulusevski on his way back we can’t see that happening all that often.