Pape Matar Sarr admits that he was close to leaving Tottenham on loan in 2022
Pape Matar Sarr has been a part of Tottenham Hotspur since 2021 after they signed him in a €16.9m deal from FC Metz. They loaned him back to the French club for that year before bringing him back in 2022.
It took some time for the Senegalese international to establish himself at Spurs, though. He wouldn’t make his debut in the Premier League until January 1st 2023, with then-manager Antonio Conte handing him minutes in a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa. A week later, the midfielder made his FA Cup debut for the Lilywhites in the 1-0 win over Portsmouth.
However, it wasn’t plain sailing for the 22-year-old. Pape Matar Sarr has now revealed Spurs had planned to send him out on loan before Oliver Skipp got injured, which changed the plans at the club.
“When I arrived, I pre-seasoned with Conte. After the pre-season, the technical director told me that the coach was satisfied with my performance, but that he wanted me to find another club until January, because they had a lot of players,” Sarr told in an exclusive interview with African outlet D Sports.
“I told my agent about it, and I was about to go on loan to Italy. Everything was almost established, but the week before the finalisation, I remember that we were holding an opposition between us. I was a substitute with Ndombele.
“That moment, I was so excited, I wanted to show all my talents. Two days later, Skipp injured himself in training, and I replaced him. After the match, it was Conte himself who called me and said, “You’re not going to go on loan, I’m counting on you, you’re going to stay.
“I had already packed my bags, and I called my dad and my agent, because they had already made the trip. At first, I was a little dubious, because I knew I was not going to play, but I thought that, once I had the opportunity, I would show up. At first, being one of the 20 players selected for the game was a real challenge for me.”
The initial struggles and challenges at Tottenham seem to have shaped Sarr well. And that is demonstrated by him becoming a regular at the club since 2023 following Ange Postecoglou’s arrival at White Hart Lane. He has made 93 appearances across the past two seasons, bagging nine goals and supplying seven assists.
The African star has grown leaps and bounds, becoming a reliable player now for Ange Postecoglou’s side. In big games, Ange has often preferred the energy, pressing, and work ethic of Sarr in the centre of the park over the technically gifted James Maddison.
This has seen him make 44 appearances across all competitions this season to date. He may have been in and out of the side for Premier League games, but Ange continues to show faith in him. At 22, the combative midfielder is still very young and developing, so inconsistency in his performance levels are quite understandable. Truly, the Senegal star, who was praised by Ange during the opening weeks of his tenure at the club, has been going under the radar for Spurs.
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Sarr is a talent who, with further coaching, guidance and experience, can unlock his true potential at Tottenham. Having once stayed patient and decided to stay at the club, he is now reaping rich dividends playing regularly for the North Londoners.