Tottenham have suspended Yves Bissouma for their Premier League curtain-raiser at Leicester City on Monday night after he was filmed inhaling laughing gas, with head coach Ange Postecoglou saying the midfielder will have to rebuild trust with himself and the squad.
Bissouma appeared to upload footage of himself taking nitrous oxide from a balloon on Saturday to social media, and later apologised publicly for a "severe lack of judgement".
Postecoglou says Bissouma will not be involved at the King Power Stadium following a "club sanction" of a one-game ban.
"There's a person involved, in this case it's Biss, and he's made a really poor decision," Postecoglou said on Thursday.
"You want to understand that and want to try to help him through that and as a club what we can do to make sure he doesn't make those kind of choices and decisions in the future.
"With that context, there's still sanctions involved and some of those sanctions are education and giving him a clear understanding of how wrong it was. You always want to give people an opportunity to learn from their mistakes.
"The second part of that is he is a footballer for this club.
"He has responsibilities. He has responsibilities to the club, he has responsibilities to his team-mates, he has responsibilities to supporters and everyone associated with the club and he's failed in those duties. There's got to be sanctions for that.
"He won't be available for Monday.
"We've suspended him from Monday's game. Beyond that, there's some trust building that has to happen between Biss and me and Biss and the group. That's what he needs to work hard at from now on, to win that back.
"That's got nothing to do with one game. He may be suspended for one game but he has to earn that. The door is open for him and hopefully we can help him to realise that the decisions he makes impacts more than just him and allows him to make better decisions moving forward."
Asked how he can rebuild trust, Postecoglou said: "Behaviour, mate. It’s quite simple.
"It’s him making better choices moving forward and behaviour. He’s obviously disappointed and he was very apologetic, not just to me but to the club and to everyone involved.
"But that’s just the first part of the process, the next part is behaviour now. Making sure that he does the things he needs to do, like for all of us. We all make mistakes. It is how you find your way back from those mistakes and what you do is far more important than what you say."
Laughing gas has been illegal to possess in the UK since last year, and can result in a two-year prison sentence.
Postecoglou added: "I’m sure Biss is like every other human being, he’s got people in his life who love him, parents, and they certainly wouldn’t want to see that.
“Then there’s the professional responsibility...the example you set as a professional footballer because there are so many people who follow the Premier League and we’re all in a pretty privileged position.
“We get well-rewarded for that. But there is a responsibility in what you do. Hopefully with education and awareness.
"There’s a reason it’s illegal. It’s not just because somebody thought, ‘Let’s just ban this for no particular reason’. There’s some science behind why it is.
“He’s made a poor choice. But within that context, we all make mistakes, there should always be an opportunity there for rehabilitation and redemption for every human being, including footballers.
“That’s up to Biss now."
