Yves Bissouma: Tottenham suspend midfielder for Premier League opener at Leicester over laughing gas incident

Tottenham midfielder Yves Bissouma has been suspended by the club for one match after footage emerged of him on social media appearing to inhale laughing gas.

The 27-year-old posted a video of himself inhaling from a balloon on Saturday but he later apologised for his actions and said it was "a severe lack of judgement".

After being made aware of the video, Spurs confirmed that there would be an internal investigation into the matter and speaking in his Thursday news conference, manager Ange Postecoglou said Bissouma was suspended for their Premier League opener at Leicester City on Monday.

Premier League

How to watch Ipswich Town v Liverpool in the Premier League on TNT Sports and discovery+

"I've been in the game for a long time and every time situations like this arise, I've always tried to look at them in a couple of different ways," Postecoglou told reporters.

"One is there's a person involved and, in this case, it's Biss. He's made a really poor decision. You want to understand that and try and 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.

"There are still sanctions involved and some of those sanctions include education, and giving him a clear understanding of why he did what he did and how wrong it was.

"You always want to give people the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. The second part of that is he’s a footballer and he has responsibilities of the club and to his team-mates and our supporters.

"He won't be available for Monday. We've suspended him from Monday's game.

"Beyond that, there’s also some trust building that needs to happen between Biss and me, and Biss and the group. That’s what he needs to work hard at from now on to try and win that back.

"The door is open for him and hopefully we can help him realise the decisions he makes impacts more than just him. Hopefully it allows him to make better decisions moving forward."

Bissouma, who moved to Spurs from Brighton in 2022, featured for 45 minutes in the club's pre-season defeat to Bayern Munich last weekend before the video was posted online.

The midfielder was an important member of the first-team squad during Postecoglou's debut campaign at Spurs, making 28 appearances in all competitions.

Postecoglou appeared to be frustrated by Bissouma's actions and explained that the player must now do the work to reintegrate himself back with the team.

"There's the personal ramifications, because it's illegal," the Australian added.

"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.

"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."

- - -

Watch the 2024/25 Premier League season on TNT Sports and discovery+.

Premier League

Exclusive: Slot on ‘similarities’ to Klopp's Liverpool and delivering success

Premier League

Newcastle confirm Tonali will return at end of August after 10-month betting ban