Lucas Bergvall is making Tottenham fans think twice about Pape Matar Sarr
Tottenham Hotspur center midfielder Pape Matar Sarr has been at the club for a good bit, and he actually started to look like a breakout star at the beginning of the 2025/26 Premier League season under Thomas Frank. He was even killing it for the Senegal national team, skipping past defenders and scoring great goals.
Sarr, though, fizzled out back into obscurity by the end of the season, dealing with his own injuries while failing to take advantage of the absences in the midfield when he was available. It feels like he is a total afterthought for Roberto De Zerbi, too, largely because his strengths as a player are more in a transitional scheme like Frank's or Ange Postecoglou's, rather than one based on technique and possession like De Zerbi's.
But Sarr showed some really nifty technique and even finishing for both Tottenham and Senegal at the beginning of the last season before falling out of form and out of favor. He is fully expected to leave this summer transfer window with clubs in the Premier League and Saudi Arabia starting to line up for a potential bargain. Recently, Ben Jacobs reported on Last Word on Spurs that he will be surprised if Sarr stays with Tottenham when September rolls around due to the marked interested in him around the globe.
Lucas Bergvall is not better than Pape Matar Sarr in 2026
Funny enough, though, while Pape Matar Sarr's exit was actually taken for granted for most of the transfer window, Tottenham Hotspur supporters are starting to rethink that stance just a little bit after watching how poorly Conor Gallagher and especially Lucas Bergvall have been playing through the first two matches of the campaign.
Bergvall has been atrocious in that box to box role, doing nothing right. His positioning, security on the ball, and defensive work rate have been beyond horrendous, and he does not even look like a rosterable player in the Premier League, much less a starter.
Obviously, Bergvall has a ton of potential and has actually been better in the past for Spurs. But after making a stink about his future even before Spurs confirmed the Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes signings, these performances have already soured many Spurs fans, and a loan deal may be a better outcome for the U21 center midfielder.
Sarr looks like a better option than Bergvall as a backup No. 8 this season. He knows the game better, he defends at a higher level, and he was never this insecure in possession. Bergvall is opening up a can of worms that he never thought would have been opened, because when it comes to competing for Champions League places right here, right now, Sarr is more of an asset to Spurs than Bergvall.
