Tottenham midfielder Pape Matar Sarr has revealed he was close to leaving the club at one point, at least on loan, before an injury to Oliver Skipp changed things.
Sarr has been speaking to D Sports in Senegal about his career to date, which naturally meant a focus on life at Tottenham.
The 22-year-old has been with Tottenham 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, keeping him ever since.
He’s been a regular for Spurs over the past two seasons, particularly under Ange Postecoglou, with 93 appearances to date and nine goals and seven assists to his name.
It took some time for him to establish himself in the first-team, though, with the club very much treating him as one for the future in his early days there.
He wouldn’t make his debut in the Premier League until January 1st 2023, with Antonio turning to him in a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa. He then handed him his debut in the FA Cup in a 1-0 win over Portsmouth a week later.
That, though, hadn’t been the plan originally as Sarr revealed Tottenham had intended to send him out on loan before Skipp was injured and 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,” he said.
“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.”
