Rodrigo Bentancur has built up quite the midfield partnership with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg since joining Tottenham from Juventus at the end of the January transfer window. Slotting straight into the team and playing a major role in the team's Champions League finish, the Uruguayan has started the current campaign where he left off back in May.
Once again such an integral part of the Tottenham midfield alongside the Dane despite Yves Bissouma's move to the club and Oliver Skipp's return from injury, the pair demonstrated their brilliant understanding just over a week ago against Everton when the 25-year-old teed up Hojbjerg for the crucial second goal. As well as hailing the ex-Southampton man, Bentancur has also waxed lyrical about fellow "high-quality midfielders" Bissouma, Skipp, Harvey White and Pape Matar Sarr.
"We get on really well," explained Bentancur in Tottenham's official matchday programme for the Newcastle game. "As I said before, the players have all welcomed me really well, and Pierre has been fantastic with me too.
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"He's a great guy, and we share some of the same interests off the pitch - he drinks maté (South American caffeine drink), like me. So before the bus leaves, we often meet at the training ground to share a maté together. And on the pitch, it feels very natural to work with him.
"The same goes for Skipp and Bissouma, who has been great since he arrived. He's settled into the group really well. There's White too, and Sarr - we've got a really good group of high-quality midfielders. Hopefully, we can keep moving in the right direction together."
Despite Tottenham's punishing schedule and Antonio Conte's need to rotate his players to keep everyone fresh, Bentancur has continued to keep his place in the Premier League XI, having started each league fixture apart from the draw at West Ham which he missed out through injury. With a further six games to come before the World Cup, the former Juventus man believes Spurs are well-equipped to deal with the amount of matches on the calendar.
"It's true that it can be really tiring, particularly when you have to play two or three away matches in a row - you get one day at home, and then you're off again, he added. "At the moment, matches have practically replaced training for us because we can't do much between times apart from recovery work.
"Of course, after an international break, it can be difficult to get back into the swing of things with your club after all the travel. I think perhaps that showed, but we were quickly able to turn those results around, and what matters now is continuing to win games."
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