Thread by @footyanalytica

Pape Matar Sarr is a young, versatile Senegalese midfielder playing for FC Metz. Interestingly, he’s from the same academy that produced the likes of Sadio Mane, Ismaila Sarr & Papiss Cisse. He played most of his games as a DM, but featured at CM too.
#Sarr #Metz #Spurs #THFC

From the footage, we see his biggest strengths are his ball-carrying & defensive abilities.He also likes taking many shots, averaging 1.75 per game [92nd percentile], out of which 0.48 are on target[84th percentile].This allowed him to score 3 goals, outperforming his xG by 2.21.

Sarr’s most touches unsurprisingly come in the mid-third area of the field. From these heat maps, we can see Sarr loves pushing up forward as well, suggesting he’s more box to box. We can also see he usually plays on the left side.
#Sarr #THFC #Metz #Spurs #FootballAnalytics

As already said, Sarr is extremely good at carrying the ball. He’ll ideally pick the ball up in the mid-third area and push into the final third. This is backed by his 6.64 progressive carries into the final-third [96th percentile]. 
#DataViz #Tableau #THFC

Distribution-wise, this is an area he can polish. His passes completed aren’t as high as his peers, though he does average 1.16 key passes. He also likes to attempt long balls, having a completion % of 75 %.Still, he could add a few more progressive passes to the attacking areas.

However, Sarr does rank high in switches and makes 8.92 passes under pressure. Combine this with his high progressive carries, there is certainly an indication of his ability to be press resistant.

#Sarr #THFC #Metz #Tableau #DataViz

Defensively, Sarr's main strength is his ability to intercept the ball with 2.23 interceptions [96th percentile] per game. He makes roughly 2.76 tackles per game, and dribblers certainly struggle against him as his 1.16 Dribblers Tackled stat puts him at the 90th percentile.

Below are a couple of radar charts. First, we look at how well he comes up against West Ham’s captain & English international, Declan Rice. Second, we take a look at how he compares with another Ligue 1 talent in Khephren Thuram.
#Sarr #DeclanRice #Thuram #Metz #THFC #Python

At the age of just 18, Sarr has already established himself at FC Metz. There’s a reason Tottenham Hotspur are on the verge of signing him, even possibly to replace a high-profile name like Tanguy Ndombele.