We’re pretty sure fans of these players’ clubs are all too aware of how significant their assorted absences have been this season, but for assorted reasons it might not be so obvious to those on the outside.
Maybe it’s because they’re the sort of quietly efficient footballer whose key qualities can go unnoticed or because they got injured so very early in the season everyone else has forgotten about them, or because they’re not that good but far better than the alternative (in some cases, no alternative)…
Rodrigo Bentancur (Tottenham)
Spurs haven’t got much right over the last year or two, but snaffling the Uruguay midfielder and Dejan Kulusevski from Juventus last January definitely qualifies. Kulusevski has reverted to the mean a little this season but before his injury Bentancur was exceptional in an understaffed two-man midfield. Quite how exceptional is becoming clearer with every game he misses through injury. Not only did he quietly and unfussily get through the work of two players, but he also made Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg look much, much better too. So really he was worth two-and-a-half players.
Harry Kane’s absurd goalscoring record in a drab and guileless team remains the primary reason Spurs’ league season isn’t a Chelsea-style catastrophe, but Bentancur’s quiet mastery of midfield was adding further significant buoyancy and they are drowning without it. No stretch to say, given the struggles of others, that if Bentancur had stayed fit then Spurs would be comfortably if still quite bafflingly in the top four right now.
Roberto Firmino (Liverpool)
The temptation was always to just sort of shrug and go “Oh well, they have lots of attacking players, it’s not a problem” but his return in recent weeks has highlighted that Firmino is not only better than those other attacking players but also offers something different. Coming on the back of Sadio Mane’s departure, the loss of Firmino served to fully dismantle the front three that had been so terrifying and surely goes at least some way to explaining Mo Salah’s relative funk this season.
With Firmino off for good this summer, it remains something Liverpool need to address: they will not be short of numbers without him, but they will be short of something.
Tyler Adams (Leeds)
The USA midfielder is but one man and can do only so much, with Leeds often deeply shambolic when he has been around. But the numbers when he’s not there shielding a confused and fragile…
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