25 Facts About Rodrigo Bentancur

Rodrigo Bentancur Colman was born on 25 June 1997 and is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the Uruguay national team.

Rodrigo Bentancur was promoted to the senior squad in 2015, winning two Primera Division titles and a Copa Argentina with the team.

Rodrigo Bentancur was then signed by Italian club Juventus in 2017, where he won three consecutive Serie A titles, among other trophies.

In January 2022, Rodrigo Bentancur joined Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.

At international level, Rodrigo Bentancur was a member of the Uruguay U20 squad that won the 2017 South American U-20 Championship.

Rodrigo Bentancur made his senior debut for Uruguay in 2017, representing the side at the FIFA World Cup in 2018 and 2022, and the Copa America in 2019,2021 and 2024.

Rodrigo Bentancur was born on 25 June 1997 in Nueva Helvecia, Colonia to Roberto Rodrigo Bentancur and Mary Colman.

Rodrigo Bentancur has a younger brother, Damian, and was nicknamed Lolo growing up as Damian couldn't pronounce Rodrigo as a child.

When Rodrigo Bentancur was four years of age, his mother died of an undisclosed illness.

Passionate about football since childhood, Rodrigo Bentancur eventually enrolled in Boca Juniors youth academy in 2009 after Horacio Anselmi, a longtime representative for the club, scouted him.

Rodrigo Bentancur arrived in Turin on 3 April 2017 and completed his medical on the same day.

Rodrigo Bentancur formally became a player of Juventus on 1 July 2017, after the club activated the option to sign him in April 2017, in a deal which would keep him at the club until 2022.

The first option to sign Rodrigo Bentancur was bought as part of Carlos Tevez's deal in July 2015.

On 31 January 2022, Rodrigo Bentancur joined Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur for an undisclosed fee.

Later on in the season, Rodrigo Bentancur scored his first UEFA Champions League goal in a group stage match - an equaliser against Sporting CP.

On 11 February 2023, Rodrigo Bentancur suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury during a match against Leicester City, which would rule him out of the team for the rest of the season.

Rodrigo Bentancur was a member of Uruguay national under-20 team, winning the 2017 South American U-20 Championship and finishing fourth at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

In September 2017, Rodrigo Bentancur received his first senior call-up to the Uruguay national team by manager Oscar Tabarez for the team's upcoming 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Venezuela and Bolivia in October.

Rodrigo Bentancur was named in the squad for the China Cup in March 2018.

In May 2018, Rodrigo Bentancur was named in Uruguay's provisional 26-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Rodrigo Bentancur was later included in the team's final 23-man squad for the tournament.

Rodrigo Bentancur was a member of Uruguay's squads for both the 2019 and 2021 Copas Americas.

Rodrigo Bentancur started all three Group H matches for La Celeste but was substituted with an injury in the final fixture against Ghana.

Rodrigo Bentancur possesses good close control, technique, and quick footwork, which enable him to get past opponents when in possession, while his vision, intelligence, personality, and incisive passing allow him to set the tempo of his team's play in a more creative role as a regista deep in midfield, and create goalscoring opportunities for his teammates after winning back the ball.

Rodrigo Bentancur is currently in a long-term relationship with Melany La Banca, an Argentine-Uruguayan from Quilmes, since 2015.