View: Tottenham midfielder Pape Matar Sarr playing at a level beyond his years
Based on his performances this season, it is easy to forget that Tottenham midfielder Pape Matar Sarr is still just 21 years of age.
Sarr has been a regular in Ange Postecoglou’s team this season, starting each of Spurs’ ten Premier League games.
Due to the performances of James Maddison, Son Heung-min and new arrivals Micky van de Ven and Guglielmo Vicario, it is understandable that not many plaudits have been reserved for the Senegal-born midfielder.
Nonetheless, Sarr certainly does deserve a special mention.
He showed glimpses of his promise and potential last season, but very few supporters would have expected him to burst onto the scene quite as he has done during the current campaign.
Many Tottenham fans will remember their 1-0 defeat to AC Milan at the San Siro in last season’s UEFA Champions League. An injury-ravaged Tottenham arrived in Italy and plenty of supporters were fearing the worst. However, despite losing the match, the long-term impacts of that game were undeniable, as a star was born in Milan that evening.
Still just 20 at this point, Sarr was one of the best players on the pitch that night. As per Sofascore, he earned a match rating of 7.4, which was bettered by only two players on the entire pitch. He made five tackles, won seven of his 11 ground duels, completed five accurate long balls forward and completed 83 per cent of his passes, with one of those being key.
It was a performance which at the time, didn’t mean much, but when looking back on that display, it was clear from that moment that Spurs had a real prospect on their hands. Few visiting players look so composed at a stadium as iconic and daunting as the San Siro, let alone 20-year-old players.
Rodrigo Bentancur’s long-term injury has arguably helped Sarr lock down a place in Spurs’ midfield, although it is not as if he hasn’t proven his worth there, and some people might now be questioning whether he deserves to be dropped for the returning Uruguay international, who came off the bench late on against Crystal Palace last week.
This is because as per the stats, Sarr hasn’t just been one of Tottenham’s standout performers this season, he has been one of the Premier League’s. According to fbref, the midfielder is in the top three per cent of his positional peers in England’s top flight for the number of shots on target he has had this season (1.02 per 90).
This is a particularly important metric, as Postecoglou likes his midfielders to shoot and impact proceedings higher up the pitch. As well as this, he is also one of the league’s most influential midfielders when it comes to moving the ball forward, sitting in the 86th percentile for the number of progressive passes he has made (7.37 per 90), as well as the 82nd percentile for the number of passes he has made into the final third (5.59 per 90).
He has showcased comfort on the ball as well, placing in the top 11 per cent of Premier League midfielders for the number of take-ons he has attempted this season (1.91 per 90), and the top seven per cent for the number of carries he has made into the final third (2.80 per 90).
All of this is particularly impressive considering that this is Sarr’s first real full season of regular Premier League football. With plenty of years still ahead of him, and certainly a lot more room for development, it is scary to think just how good he can become.
Postecoglou might now have to think twice about whether he brings Bentancur straight back into the fold, and based on the way the former Juventus man was performing last season, that is a real compliment to the quality of Sarr.
In other Tottenham news, John Wenham has detailed how the club’s defenders are beginning to build an “understanding.”