Tottenham Hotspur are blessed with a number of talented midfielders, one of them being Pape Matar Sarr. While he may not the most high profile player, here’s a handy guide to everything you need to know about the young Spurs star.
While this summer has brought high-profile arrivals in midfield in the shape of Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes, one player that will still remain an intriguing option as the Roberto De Zerbi era fully kicks off is Pape Matar Sarr.
Having steadily climbed through the pecking order for the Lilywhites, Sarr has established himself as a really useful and influential player. But who is he? This is his story.
Where did Spurs sign Pape Matar Sarr from?
Tottenham signed Sarr from French outfit FC Metz in 2021, however, he did not officially arrive in North London until a year later, in the summer of 2022.
The youngster cost Spurs roughly £14m at the time. The decision was made to leave Sarr on loan at Metz for another year before introducing him into the fold at Tottenham.
He made 59 appearances for Metz, scoring five goals and registering three assists. Before that, he came through the ranks at Académie Génération Foot in Senegal, moving to France in 2020.
Sarr was brought to Tottenham by former managing director of football Fabio Paratici, who admitted in September 2021 that Spurs had secured the signing of “one of the most talented in Europe”.
Pape Matar Sarr’s Tottenham career
Sarr had to be patient early on at Tottenham since he wasn’t given many opportunities to play under Antonio Conte. yet his career has flourished thanks to Ange Postecoglou.
With Conte at the helm, Sarr was limited to bit-part substitute appearances, and only managed to rack up 17 appearances (totalling 646 minutes) across all competitions in the 2022/23 campaign.
This did include, however, a very impressive 90 minutes in the 1-0 defeat against AC Milan in the Champions League. Sarr was hailed as Tottenham’s best performer on the night in that game.
Following Postecoglou’s arrival at the club, Sarr was part of the rotation between Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur in the deeper midfield roles.
He has started to add goals to his game, and is able to impact the matches he is involved in with his composure, work ethic, and vision. His first season at Spurs, through 22/23, there were no goals and just a lone assist.
Under Postecoglou, Sarr scored nine goals and made six assists through 90 games in all competitions. He was a regular in the Premier League, playing 34 games and 36 games respectively.
Last season, under a mix of Thomas Frank, Igor Tudor and Roberto De Zerbi, Sarr scored twice and made four assists – all coming in the Premier League. A shoulder injury disrupted his progress once the Italian arrived, leaving with a role from the bench as Tottenham battled to survival.
He will be hoping for more through 2026/27.
Pape Matar Sarr’s wages and market value
After a nice pay rise last year, Pape Matar Sarr is thought to earn around £70,000 per week at Tottenham.
That’s according to data from Capology, who reveal Sarr is now paid £3.64m per year. Sarr was previously earning a reported £15,000 per week on his original deal at Spurs, but signed a new contract that saw him commit his future to the club until 2030.
As per information from Transfermarkt, the 22-year-old is worth €30m, which equates to roughly £25.6m.
Sarr is a versatile midfielder
Pape Matar Sarr is a central midfielder, to put it simply. But, he’s capable of playing as a number 6, 8, or even pushing up as a makeshift 10 at times.
His strength, athleticism, and impeccable reading of the game make him an ideal holding midfielder, and he’s really adept at breaking up play and turning defence into attack.
However, his best role is arguably as an 8, where he is able to dictate the flow of the game a little more and use his creativity. Sarr has great stamina, and is brilliant at carrying the ball, making him a really useful box-to-box midfielder.
Postecoglou has employed Sarr as an out-and-out playmaker before, though, and he is pretty useful in that role. While he’s perhaps not as fluid or as adventurous as the likes of James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, Sarr offers lots of energy and intelligence in the hole behind the strikers.
Sarr becoming a star for Senegal in international football
Since making his international debut in March 2021, Sarr has racked up 24 caps for Senegal to date and is now a regular for his country.
Just like at club level, Sarr has had to be patient when it comes to representing Senegal. After his debut, he remained a part of the Senegal squad in every international break, but was largely an unused substitute for the next two years.
He was not included in the squad for the African Cup of Nations in January 2023 but, by the end of the year, after his successful integration into Postecoglou’s squad, Sarr was brought back into the national team.
He hasn’t looked back since, featuring heavily in the AFCON journey for Senegal at the start of 2024. Through 2025, he made eight appearances for his country, scoring three goals, all coming in Senegal’s qualifying campaign for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Sarr was not a starter as Senegal headed to the tournament, but did make appearances versus Norway and Belgium, where they exited the tournament in extra-time in the round of 32.
Pape Matar Sarr’s personal information and social media
Pape Matar Sarr was born on September 14, 2002, making him 23-years-old at the time of writing. He was born in Thiaroye, Senegal.
Sarr is 1.84m in height, but weighs just 70kg, giving him a very tall, lean, athletic build.
You can find Pape on Instagram, where he has over 1.2m followers. He also uses Twitter/X, and has just over 215k followers there.
For more on the Tottenham Hotspur first-team squad, check out our profiles for Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray.