With James Maddison (£7.0m) picking up what looks to be a serious knee injury in pre-season, Tottenham Hotspur fan Sam talks us through what this means for the Lilywhites – and Pape Matar Sarr (£5.0m) – ahead of the new season.
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Pre-season was all going a little too well, wasn’t it?
The new management team had settled well, Mohammed Kudus (£6.5m) had made his move across London, and Joao Palhinha (£5.5m) was flying over for a medical. Then Maddison went down in his first minutes back after the injury that kept him out of the UEFA Europa League final.
That injury to Maddison is problematic for Spurs. The number 10 position is critical for the way Thomas Frank’s side’s play, as we saw with Mikkel Damsgaard (£6.0m) at Brentford last season. As Marc reported in his Moving Target article, when Frank first arrived at Spurs, Brentford almost exclusively played a 4-2-3-1 system last season. This allowed Damsgaard to shine. The playmaker assisted 10 times, thriving around three attackers who each scored at least 11 goals.
With Maddison out and Dejan Kulusevski (£6.5m) sharing this week that he only just kicked a ball for the first time since his surgery in the spring, this leaves Frank with an issue in who might play in ‘the hole’.
Get the credit card out?
Daniel Levy and Frank now have two options.
- Look in the market and see whether they can buy a creative engine to power the front three
- Look inside the ranks and see if there is a viable out-of-position player
This whole article could turn into a ‘who Sam wants to see in a Spurs shirt’ at this stage – Eberechi Eze (£7.5m), I’m still looking at you!
But time is short as Spurs have just two matches left before the start of the season. First up, it’s a friendly against Bayern Munich before the Super Cup Final against PSG. So could there be a player in the Spurs’ team who could step up in that role?
Pape Matar Sarr
At just £5.0m, Sarr is a cheap way to invest in Spurs ahead of a great fixture run to start the season.
Manager Frank’s comments on Sarr also suggest that he will be an important player for Spurs this season.
“I know he won player of the match and, for me, he was player of the match. He took it (the goal) so well and so quickly, saw David Raya was too far out of his goal and put it away.
“By the way, I think Pape has been amazing. I really like how he has played and performed in the last four weeks, training and in games. He’s building, and his all-round game today… top.”
Thomas Frank on Pape Matar Sarr
Sarr was player of the match twice in pre-season for Spurs. In these games, he has played more minutes than any other Spurs player and he has scored three goals, including a spectacular one from the halfway line against Arsenal.
On-field position
During the 2024/25 Premier League season, Sarr spent most of his time playing left-centre mid. He was also deployed on the right of midfield, too. He did get some minutes in the hole, but this wasn’t his standard position under Ange Postecoglou.
Sarr registered two goals and three assists in the Premier League last season. Those are totals that you would expect to grow significantly if he’s in the 10 role.
Defensive contributions
Sarr would have registered ‘DC’ points in five of his 22 starts last season – not Caicedo levels, but a nice little bonus:
In fact, across the Spurs team, Sarr’s 10 DefCon points would only have been bettered by one player – Rodrigo Bentancur (£5.5m). Sarr registered 228 defensive contributions last season, the vast majority of these (115) coming from recoveries.
With increased minutes, I would expect his potential for defensive points to rise, and if playing in a more forward-thinking role, if this is coupled with an increase in attacking returns, it could make him a great budget enabler.
Damsgaard still racked up 14 DC points from a ’10’ role last season, so even a more advanced role in Frank’s side doesn’t kill all defensive contribution potential.
Is it a risk?
There is a good chance that Spurs attempt to sign a new creative midfielder in the window. The likes of Jack Grealish (£6.5m), Eze and Harvey Elliott (£5.5m) have all been rumoured to be being watched this summer.
Obviously, if Spurs sign a natural creator, that would mean Sarr moving back into a less attacking midfield slot alongside Palhinha. However, with a wealth of other options including Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall (£5.5m), Archie Gray (£5.0m) and Yves Bissouma (£5.5m), there is way more risk of rotated minutes.
With just a week left to the start of the season, time is running out for Levy and co. So, Sarr could be a good short-term differential option – especially for those managers considering an early Wildcard, if Spurs eventually do sign someone new.
Better Options?
There are other options from Spurs, especially if Sarr isn’t nailed to start in the attack. The likes of Kudus, Brennan Johnson (£7.0m) and Dominic Solanke (£7.5m) all offer attacking potential.
Johnson scored 11 goals last season from 54 shots. The majority of Johnson’s starts last season came on the right wing. This might be different with Kudus in the squad. In pre-season, we have season Johnson on the left with Kudus on the right.
Kudus had 75 attempts on goal last season, scoring five goals for West Ham. Kudus has played 46.7% of minutes for Spurs in pre-season and has registered an assist for his new club. With Maddison and Kulusevski injured, Kudus and Johnson both look very good bets to start the season.
Up front, Solanke has only played 45 minutes in pre-season. These minutes came in the first match and his absence has been described as precautionary. The forward is due to return in the next match against Bayern Munich.
Solanke had an injury-hit season last year. He started 25 games and scored nine Premier League goals in his first season at Spurs. Son Heung-min (£8.5m) leaving Spurs means that Solanke will also likely now be on penalty duty. This increases his appeal in FPL by broadening his route to points.
Kudus and, if he proves his fitness, Solanke are better options for investment than Sarr if you want a guaranteed (or as good as!) medium-term starter for your first XI.
However, at just £5.0m, Sarr could be a very nice fifth midfielder option – especially for Gameweek 1 Bench Boosters. Even if he loses his place eventually, he’s not eating up much of the budget and there perhaps won’t be as much of a hurry to ship him out, with seven other playable, and more expensive, attackers.
