Tottenham: Early grades on Spurs summer transfer signings

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Tottenham Hotspur’s Italian goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini celebrates after a penalty shoot-out during the English League Cup third-round football match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur at the Molineux stadium in Wolverhampton, central England on September 22, 2021. – (Photo by LINDSEY PARNABY/AFP via Getty Images) /

The season is far from over but with nearly 20% of the league year gone, it is an appropriate time to begin reflecting on summer signings. Here we provide some first semester grades on Fabio Paratici’s first signing class at Tottenham Hotspur.

Fabio Paratici officially started at Tottenham Hotspur as Director of Football on July 1, more than a full month after the transfer window opened on May 24. Despite limited time and lots of work to do, including hiring a manager, Paratici managed to move on seven players – although Spurs received funds for only four – and signed five players in return.

While certainly not a full rebuild the signings marked a true beginning to the long-overdue rebuild at Tottenham Hotspur. A rebuild that included some right now help in Cristian Romero and hopefully, some future stars in players like Bryan Gil and Emerson Royal. The group also included a player who was signed and immediately loaned back to the selling club in our first player, Pape Sarr.

Tottenham future on loan – Pape Matar Sarr – B

Pape Sarr is only 18-years old and in the somewhat crowded and definitely unbalanced midfield that is Spurs at the present, Sarr is definitely better off with FC Metz this term. Sarr has been a bit of a utility player for Metz this season, playing everywhere from left wing-back to defensive midfield and all positions in between.

The most important thing for Sarr is not so much his position – although having a permanent one will be nice one day – rather it is about the minutes. In nine matches out of a possible 810 minutes, Sarr has played 772 or 95% of the minutes available.

As things are currently proceeding, Sarr will likely have more than 60 appearances in the French top-flight by the end of the season and quite possibly be ready for that next step up to the Premier League.

Ideally, Sarr begins to nail down a position and starts to add some production to his minutes, he has only one goal thus far on the campaign. Finding a position or two and adding the confidence that comes with successful performances will make this a great loan for Sarr, Tottenham, and Metz.

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