Tottenham's Rodrigo Bentancur has been slapped with an FA charge over comments he made about team-mate Son Heung-min during a media interview.
Bentancur, 27, had to apologise to Son after seemingly stating that all South Koreans "look the same" in a chat with a Uruguayan TV station. Despite issuing a heartfelt apology to Son on social media, Bentancur now faces a misconduct charge from the FA and could be looking at a ban.
An FA statement released on Thursday morning read: "Rodrigo Bentancur has been charged with an alleged breach of FA Rule E3 for misconduct in relation to a media interview. 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 has until Thursday, September 19 to respond to the charge, reports the Mirror.
While he can still play for now, Bentancur could face a ban if the charge is upheld in the coming weeks. Spurs are set to clash with Arsenal in the North London derby on Sunday.
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Spurs were quick to drop a statement after the incident, which featured remarks from Son himself, solidifying that all was well with his mate Bentancur.
"I've spoken with Lolo. He made a mistake, he knows this and has apologised," assured Son. The South Korean international added, "Lolo would not mean to ever intentionally say something offensive. We are brothers and nothing has changed at all."
Son hammered home the unity in the squad, stating, "We're past this, we're united, and we will be back together in pre season to fight for our club as one."