Tottenham Hotspur have obviously been boosted significantly by the summer addition of Portuguese midfielder Joao Palhinha, whose loan signing from Bayern Munich has been one of the most inspired moves of the entire Premier League summer transfer window.
The thing is, Palhinha hasn't been the only big breakout for Spurs this season in the middle of the park, and it's very easy to forget, but Senegalese international Pape Matar Sarr was equally brilliant for club and country to start the 2025/26 campaign.
Sarr was a bit of a forgotten figure under Ange Postecoglou last season, but he looked like a man revived under Thomas Frank during the highly successful initial games for Spurs. He was covering an absurd amount of ground and even showing more verve and technical quality on the attacking end than in the previous campaign.
Frank seems to have made Sarr less of a focus in recent weeks, though. He didn't get into the team against Brighton when they drew 2-2, and he only played 12 minutes for Spurs to close the fortunate 1-1 draw with Wolves, and, in fact, he was on the pitch to assist the game-tying goal.
Tottenham have been better with him
With the caveat that Sarr wasn't exactly great in his 68 minutes against Bodo Glimt, it does seem like Tottenham's best games have come with Sarr as a starter while, besides Bodo Glimt and Bournemouth in which the entire team was dreadful, some of the more disappointing outings have been without him.
Regardless, Sarr has passed the eye test this season with flying colors as a dynamic ball-winner and progessor. He's certainly been superior to Rodrigo Bentancur in the middle of the park, and beyond Palhinha, he's probably been Spurs best midfielder, showing more consistency than the young Lucas Bergvall (and we don't quite have enough of a sample size on Xavi Simons, given all the minutes wasted away with him on the left wing).
Sarr, by the way, scored in the win over West Ham, and after watching the quality of the goals he scored for Senegal in important moments in the last international break, there's more attacking firepower for Frank to harness with Sarr than Ange Postecoglou and even the fans likely thought. He's more than a box-to-box maven who defends and progresses at a high level.
Spurs best midfield involves some combination of Palhinha, Bergvall, and Sarr behind Simons in the 10 position. Going forward, Sarr has to be a regular for Tottenham, and if there's a way Spurs can start all four without shoehorning Simons into a left wing role, then that would be ideal for Tottenham. Sarr has been too immense, as Wolves can attest, to leave to rot on the bench.