Former Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa coach turned pundit Tim Sherwood has blasted Tottenham’s recruitment of Rodrigo Bentancur.
Bentancur arrived at Spurs in January from Juventus alongside winger Dejan Kulusevski.
However, Sherwood believes that while Kulusevski looks to be a promising signing, Bentancur has thus far flattered to deceive, criticising him for his lack of forward passing.
Speaking on Sky Sports as quoted by HITC, Sherwood said: “What they do is buy is Bentancur who gives the ball away more than he keeps it, and when he keeps it, he goes square and backwards.”
He added: “Kulusevski looks okay, but a development player. We are developing for someone else.”
Indeed it is not a good look when your team has won just once since your introduction to the team, even if that win is against one of the best sides in the world in Manchester City.
The Uruguay international missed the 4-0 win over Leeds with an ankle injury but returns for Everton’s visit against Antonio Conte’s side on Monday.
However, Sherwood’s analysis of Bentancur could be off the mark a bit.
Looking at stats site FB.ref, Bentancur ranks 21st in the Premier League for passes into the final third per 90 minutes with 6.07, the same value as Kevin De Bruyne, although if we exclude those with less than one one set of 90 minutes completed, than this puts Bentancur up to 14th in the rankings.
Bentancur is a fresh signing from a foreign league so a period of adjustment should be expected, hence suggesting he has been a mistake of a signing already might be jumping the gun a little too soon.