Tottenham Hotspur came into the summer transfer window knowing that they had to upgrade their midfield, and, so far they have managed to sign one new starter to rotate with the current crop of Pape Sarr, Lucas Bergvall, Rodrigo Bentancur, Archie Gray, and, still on the books, Yves Bissouma at the base of the midfield.
That player would be ex-Bayern Munich defensive midfielder Joao Palhinha, acquired on loan from the Bavarian giants after failing to settle in during his lone season at the club. But prior to this ill-fated loan, Palhinha was a defensive machine in the middle of the park at the Premier League level, standing out as one of the best 6's in the game for Fulham.
Tottenham have their destroyer, but they still need their general. If incoming manager Thomas Frank's words are anything to go off of, though, Spurs already feel like they have their archetype architect to man the midfield.
Frank has praised Rodrigo Bentancur before in the transfer window, but he offered arguably his highest praise yet with just weeks remaining in the calendar before the 2025/26 Premier League season officially starts.
Thomas Frank has his midfield general
The former Brentford manager said of Bentancur, via Football.London's Alasdair Gold, "I was pretty sure he would be a key player [before I started working with him], so that's not been a surprise. That's a player, of course I think is important for the future".
Frank's praise for Bentancur's future importance is of particular note to Tottenham fans, because Bentancur is in the final year of his contract. Now, Spurs were always expected to pick Bentancur over Bissouma when it came to the two out-of-contract midfielders, but since the Uruguayan international is now 28, it is a big deal for Frank to think of him as someone who can be important for the foreseeable future.
When Bentancur was a young player, he took Serie A storm in 2019/20 in Juventus's last season as Italian champions, and while he proceeded to tumble off a cliff as Juve did the same, his career revived in Tottenham before, again, falling a bit in the last season.
But Bentancur has the technical quality, tactical intelligence, and willingness to play with grit in midfield to be a great complement to Palhinha as the more "holding" oriented of the holding midfielders. And he may just need better coaching, akin to what he got with Maurizio Sarri, from Frank, who is stronger tactically and actually values midfields and structures over his predecessor. Because while Ange Postecoglou had his strengths, he didn't know how to make use of Bentancur as effectively.