Romano: Salernitana want Spurs’ Pape Sarr on loan

More loan rumors! Fabrizio Romano is back at it, today dropping some info about Tottenham Hotspur’s young Senegalese midfielder Pape Matar Sarr, and saying that he’s a loan target for Serie A side Salernitana.

On the one hand, this is a bit weird since Antonio Conte hinted that he was less likely to want to send Sarr out on loan as recently as yesterday. Sarr has had a couple of very promising performances in Tottenham’s midfield over the past two matches, with Yves Bissouma suspended and Rodrigo Bentancur injured. He also played well for Senegal in the World Cup, looking mature and composed on the ball. The thought was that now Sarr might have something like a pathway to actual first team minutes at Spurs.

But upon reflection, this makes sense and I think would even be good. Yes, Sarr has taken his chance with both hands and made the most of it. That’s great! It’s sure better than the alternative. But Lolo and Yves are back imminently and once they are it’s really hard to see where those meaningful minutes in Spurs’ midfield are going to come, especially if/when Tottenham drop out of a couple of competitions in the coming weeks and months.

Joel Wortheimer took the time to look up Salernitana’s stats in the Carty Free Slack channel so I wouldn’t have to and noted that Salernitana are in the bottom third of the table but have Serie A’s worst xGD. That implies that Sarr could be a plus midfielder for them and get not just minutes, but meaningful minutes for a team that needs him. Salernitana isn’t a good team, but they’re not a dumpster fire like Metz, Sarr’s former club and where he spent the whole of last season on loan. He could play a lot.

You want to send your young players out on loan even after promising debuts because those players who are going to benefit from more first team opportunities even more than the ones who you’re just trying to flip for profit. If Sarr can go to Italy, establish himself for a side that wants him, and play against clubs like Juventus, Inter, AC Milan, and Napoli, he’s going to learn a lot more than he would sticking around Spurs and getting ten minutes here and there against Southampton and Bournemouth.

Fab says the deal is nowhere close and that Sarr will have to agree to go, but I see this as a positive development. Let’s see if it goes anywhere.