Pape Matar Sarr believes his hard work is paying off as he has signed a new long-term contract with the club.
In only his second season in English football this season, the Senegalese international has established himself as a key member of Ange Postecoglou’s all-play system.
The softly spoken but determined youngster, rewarded with a new contract that runs until 2030, says he loves living in North London and is working hard.
“It’s a great feeling to be part of what’s going on at Tottenham, which has now become like a family to me, so I’m delighted to have extended my contract with the club with the intention of staying here as long as possible to really express myself on the pitch, fully enjoy the fans and strive to win trophies,” he said.
“I try to enjoy every game. I wanted this season to be a great one for all of us and a good one for me. I think it’s been a lot of hard work and now it’s starting to pay off a little bit. This season I have started games, scored goals and now I have signed a new contract, so I am very happy. I’m trying to enjoy my football, help the team to the best of my ability and make the most of every game I play.”
The 21-year-old, who first signed for Metz in 2021, spent another year on loan with the French side before joining us fully in the summer of 2022. After acclimatising to English football in the 2022/23 season, he settled in well during this period and made 18 of our 20 Premier League appearances in the engine room, starting 16 of them.
“We work together as a unit in the middle of the park and whoever is selected to play, we all try to complement each other because the team relies on us a lot,” he said. “My role is practically to play as a number eight, so I try to put together attacks and also do the defensive duties as the coach wants. I also try to score goals to help the team where I can.”
Pape scored his first goal for us in a memorable 2-0 home win over Manchester United in August and two days ago he scored the opening goal in a 3-1 win against AFC Bournemouth.
“I’m playing a bit more forward and I know I could have scored more goals this week before the last one, because I’ve missed one or two chances in games, but that’s the way it is,” he said. “It’s a long Premier League season and I’m sure I’ll score more. I found it liberating to score at home – I like to score in our stadium because the fans always support us 100%, so yes, I like to score here and share these moments with them.”
Sadly, Pape’s afternoon against Bournemouth at the weekend came to an early end as he was sent off in the first half, but he will still report for duty with Senegal this week to take part in next month’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). If Pape is part of the Senegal team that lifted the trophy in 2022, he will become the first Spurs player to appear in two different AFCON tournaments if he takes to the field in this year’s competition.
“It’s never easy defending a title after the last time you won a tournament, but we’ll try to go as far as we can in the competition as it’s an important tournament for us and for me personally,” he said. “We will go into the tournament with the aim to defend our title, create something special and hopefully take home the trophy. Otherwise, I promise to be back soon to continue our great season.”