Tottenham to appeal Rodrigo Bentancur seven-game ban for Heung-min Son remarks

During an interrogation with Uruguayan TV newsman Rafa Coteo successful June, Bentancur was asked for the “Korean’s shirt” during a four-hour filming league astatine his home.

The Spurs midfielder replied: “Sonny? Or 1 of Sonny’s cousins arsenic they each look much oregon little the same.”

Bentancur’s lawsuit was heard by an autarkic three-person sheet connected November 5 and helium was deed with a seven-match prohibition and fined £100,000.

He is acceptable to miss Tottenham’s Premier League games against Manchester City, Fulham, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Southampton and Liverpool, and the sojourn of Manchester United successful the Carabao Cup, and indispensable implicit a face-to-face acquisition programme by March 11.

The FA recommends a six to 12-match authorisation for players recovered blameworthy of an aggravated breach of misconduct rules.

It is understood Tottenham are not appealing the blameworthy verdict handed retired to Bentancur - but they are aiming to trim the magnitude of his ban.

Given the minimum authorisation for specified a complaint is simply a six-game ban, it is improbable Bentancur’s prohibition would beryllium reduced beneath that.

If it was reduced from 7 to six matches, though, the midfielder would beryllium capable to look Liverpool connected December 22.

The discourse of the speech intelligibly shows Rodrigo is being sarcastic. It was Mr Cotelo who described Sonny arsenic ‘The Korean’.

Tottenham's written defence connected behalf of Rodrigo Bentancur

In a written submission successful his defence connected behalf of the player, Tottenham claimed: “Rodrigo’s reply was sarcastic and a gentle rebuke for the writer calling Sonny ‘The Korean’. Rodrigo does not judge that each Koreans ‘look much oregon little the same’.

“The discourse of the speech intelligibly shows Rodrigo is being sarcastic. It was Mr Cotelo who described Sonny arsenic ‘The Korean’. In the discourse of the conversation, it was evident that Mr Cotelo was referring to Sonny arsenic ‘The Korean’, and Rodrigo was challenging the writer successful his statement of his Club team-mate.”

The nine besides described his remark arsenic a “jocular generalisation...which did not transverse the enactment into misconduct”.

Bentancur apologised to Son via societal media the time aft the video was published, earlier posting “a longer apology” online the pursuing week.

The sheet was unimpressed with Bentancur’s assertion astir the existent meaning of his apologies, saying his mentation “flies successful the look of the evidence” and besides dismissed his entitlement to privacy.

“If the Player had wanted specifically to exclude thing helium had said successful the interrogation from being published, helium could person said truthful to Mr Cotelo: determination is nary grounds that helium sought to bash so,” the commission’s last study read.