After a summer transfer window of activity, Tottenham Hotspur finally have real strength in depth in the midfield department. The signings of 18-year-olds Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray are clearly ones for the future, but very much for the here and now too.
Gray and Bergvall were both handed their first starts in a Tottenham shirt in the Carabao Cup third round clash with Coventry City on Wednesday night and both have already had minutes from the bench in the Premier League too.
They will be battling it out for game time alongside Pape Matar Sarr, Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski this season. Seven players for three roles.
Spurs have already missed Bissouma for a couple of games this season, due to injury and they may well have to do without another player for an extended period of time too.
Bentancur is currently awaiting sanction from the Football Association over comments he made about teammate Son Heung-min. The Uruguayan was charged by the FA last week with "an alleged breach of FA Rule E3 for misconduct in relation to a media interview".
An FA statement read: "It’s alleged that the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder has breached FA Rule E3.1 as he acted in an improper manner and/or used abusive and/or insulting words and/or brought the game into disrepute.
"It’s further alleged that this constitutes an “aggravated breach” which is defined in FA Rule E3.2, as it included a reference, whether express or implied, to nationality and/or race and/or ethnic origin."
Bentancur responded to the charge yesterday and is set to find out what sanction he will receive in the coming days. If found guilty he could face a ban of between six and 12 matches.
Not only that, but the midfielder is already walking a suspension tightrope. The Uruguayan has been booked three times already this season, in just four matches.
Any player receiving five yellow cards gets a one-match ban, if they pick up those five cautions in the first 19 matches of the season.
So Bentancur is just two matches away from a one-match ban in the Premier League on top of whatever the FA may or may not decide to sanction him with.