In Luciano Spalletti’s equine metaphorical universe — where Woltemade is a “Friesian horse,” statuesque and surprisingly gentle — Pape Matar Sarr has been assigned his own equestrian identity: a “thoroughbred.” The quote, delivered after Sarr’s first competitive start for Juventus in Thursday’s 5-0 Europa League victory over NEC Nijmegen, captures in a single image what the manager sees in the Senegalese midfielder — and what the opening 70 minutes of his Bianconero career suggested he can offer.
69 Touches, a Decisive Vertical Pass, and the Running That Impressed Most
The headline statistic from Sarr’s debut is one of involvement: 69 balls touched — the second most in the Juventus team, behind only Lucumí. For a player making his first competitive start after arriving in the final hours of August with a residual muscle problem, the volume of engagement speaks to a natural confidence and an instinctive desire to be involved that Spalletti clearly recognised immediately.
The specific action that most impressed the manager was the vertical pass — delivered in the build-up to the 2-0 — that found McKennie on the move and directly created the situation from which Alajbegovic scored. It was the kind of forward-thinking, line-breaking distribution that Locatelli specialised in, and that Juventus have been visibly missing since the captain’s knee surgery ruled him out until at least January.
The Honest Caveats — Six Balls Lost, Three Duels Won from Ten
La Gazzetta’s analysis is balanced and honest about the rough edges. Six balls lost, mostly in the opening phase, and an unexpectedly low duel success rate — just three won from ten — are attributed to the physical condition that Sarr is still working his way back from, rather than any settled technical limitation. A player arriving at the Continassa having barely trained in the final weeks at Tottenham, managing the remnants of a muscle problem, was never going to produce a flawless debut. The 3 balls recovered and the defensive contribution further into the match suggest the physical sharpness will come with time and competitive minutes.
How Spalletti Will Use Him — the Locatelli Role for Douglas Luiz
The tactical function Gazzetta identifies for Sarr at Juventus is precise and immediately clear. With Douglas Luiz as his midfield partner, Sarr’s most useful contribution is likely to be positional solidity, ball recovery, and short recycling — giving the Brazilian the freedom to advance into the trequartista zone and attempt the inventive, line-breaking passes that have made him one of the season’s most surprising individual stories.
It is, in essence, the role Locatelli performed alongside Douglas Luiz in the opening weeks of the season — providing the platform of positional discipline and defensive coverage that allows the technically superior partner to express himself without compromising the team’s balance. When Sarr returns to the running form that won him Europa League winner’s medals at Tottenham and earned him the thoroughbred label from his new manager, that dimension will add further to everything he provides. For now, the thoroughbred is still warming up. The gallop will come.
