The last five years or so have been a roller coaster for Tottenham Hotspur.
Since Daniel Levy and Co decided to sack Mauricio Pochettino, the club haven’t been able to find another manager who’s been able to truly deliver.
For example, Ange Postecoglou delivered entertaining football but has made them incredibly easy to play against, while Antonio Conte and José Mourinho turned a club famous for their attacking philosophy into one of the country’s most boring teams to watch.
Yet, the least successful of the lot was Nuno Espírito Santo, who wasn’t even given half a season in the dugout but still managed to bring in a couple of good signings, including one now compared to a Premier League superstar.
Nuno's Spurs signings
So, before we get to the player in question, it’s worth looking at some of the other players Nuno bought in during his time in the Spurs hot seat, starting with one that did not work out: Emerson Royal.
The Brazilian full-back joined the North Londoners from Barcelona in the summer of 2021 for a fee of around £26m – a fee that reportedly stunned the Catalan board at the time, which perhaps makes how things panned out not that surprising.
In all, the São Paulo-born flop made 101 appearances for the club, in which he scored four goals, provided two assists and was often labelled a “liability” by those in the media like Jamie O’Hara, before being sold to AC Milan for about £13m in the summer of 2024.
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An altogether more successful acquisition made under Nuno’s watch was that of Cristian Romero, who joined the club on a loan with a £46.7m option to buy in early August 2021.
Since then, he has been one of the club’s co-vice captains and made 117 appearances, scoring seven goals and providing one assist.
However, he’s not been the only success story from that summer, as another of Nuno’s limited signings is now a key member of the squad and has even been compared to one of the biggest stars in the Premier League, who is worth around £101m.
Spurs' £101m superstar in the making
Given Nuno’s limited time at Spurs, only one other signing was made under him that could be described as a success: Pape Matar Sarr.
The North Londoners paid Ligue 1 side FC Metz about £15m for the midfield “monster,” as dubbed by journalist Mitch Fretton, in the summer of 2021, and it would be fair to say he has since more than proved worth that initial investment.
For example, he’s already made 93 first-team appearances, scoring nine goals and providing six assists, which is seriously impressive for a 22-year-old central midfielder.
On top of this, he’s also been compared to Declan Rice, and while the Spurs faithful don’t like him, it’s a pretty flattering and encouraging comparison, one that stems from Fbref.
They compared players in similar positions in last season’s Premier League and concluded that the Englishman was the second most similar midfielder to the Senegalese ace in the entire competition.
Non-Penalty Expected G+As
0.25
0.24
Shots
1.57
1.62
Shots on Target
0.57
0.56
Passes into the Penalty Area
1.00
1.09
Goal-Creating Actions
0.30
0.33
Passes Blocked
0.70
0.73
Aerial Duels Won
1.04
1.09
The best way to see how this conclusion was reached is by looking at the underlying numbers in which they ranked closely, including but not limited to non-penalty expected goals plus assists, shots and shots on target, passes into the penalty area, goal-creating actions and more, all per 90.
However, while being statistically similar to one of the division’s leading midfielders is great in and of itself, it’s also encouraging regarding the Lilywhites ace’s future valuation.
For example, Transfermarkt currently values the Arsenal star at a whopping €110m, which, when converted, comes out to £101m, and if Sarr is so similar to him, why couldn’t his price tag reach the same heights in the future?
Ultimately, while he’s not quite on the level of the Englishman just yet, the talent is undeniably there, and with the right coaching, the sky’s the limit.
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