Tottenham hands ban to Yves Bissouma over laughing gas video

Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham have suspended Yves Bissouma for Monday’s Premier League opener against Leicester City after the midfielder posted footage on social media of himself inhaling laughing gas.

The Mali international has apologised after videos emerged on Snapchat showing him using the Class C drug – also known as nitrous oxide – and Spurs have released a statement saying it will be “treated as an internal matter”.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Postecoglou suggested Bissouma had failed in his responsibilities as a role model and needed to restore confidence in his team-mates as he sits out the club’s first game of the season.

“I’ve been in the game for a long time, and whenever situations like this come up, and they do, I’ve always tried to look at them in different ways,” Postecoglou said.

“There is one person involved: in this case it is Biss (Bissouma), and he made a very bad decision. We have to understand that and try to help him through this. As a club we have to see what we can do to make sure he doesn’t make those kinds of choices and decisions in the future.

“In that context, there are always sanctions involved, and some of those sanctions involve educating him and making it clear to him how wrong it was. You always want to give people the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.

“The second aspect of this is that he is a footballer of this club. He has responsibilities. He has responsibilities to the club, he has responsibilities to his team-mates, he has responsibilities to the supporters and everyone associated with the club, and he has failed in those duties. There must be sanctions for that.

“He won’t be available for Monday. We’ve suspended him for Monday’s game. Beyond that, there needs to be some trust between Biss and me and between Biss and the group.

“That’s why he has to work hard from now on, to regain that ground. It has nothing to do with one match. He can be suspended for one match, but he has to deserve it.”

“The door is open for him and we hope we can help him understand that the decisions he makes impact more than just him and enable him to make better decisions in the future.”

Nitrous oxide was classified as a Class C drug under the UK government’s Misuse of Drugs Act last November. Possession of nitrous oxide, not for pain relief, is now an offence punishable by up to two years in prison, but it is not yet known whether Bissouma will face criminal prosecution.

Asked how Bissouma is going about rebuilding that trust, Postecoglou said: “Behaviour, mate. It’s quite simple. He’s making better choices and behaving better. He’s obviously disappointed and he’s apologised, not just to me but to the club and to everyone involved.

“But that’s just the first part of the process, the next step is behavior. Making sure he does what he’s supposed to do, like we all do. We all make mistakes. It’s how you recover from those mistakes, and what you do is much more important than what you say.”

Postecoglou expects £65 million ($83.2 million) signing Dominic Solanke to be available against Leicester, while Richarlison has recovered from a calf problem but needs “match minutes over the next few weeks”.