A former Chelsea defender who hadn’t played for the team in almost three years has found a surprising new club.
Chelsea’s long-forgotten player, Malang Sarr, has finally found a new team three years after Mauricio Pochettino seemed to forget about him during a now-famous press conference.
Sarr joined Chelsea for free back in 2020 after leaving Nice. He played 21 times in his first season, including eight Premier League games. Then, he spent the 2020/2021 season on loan at Porto before going on loan to Monaco the next year. After that, he came back to Chelsea, hoping to get back into the first team.
But in August 2023, Pochettino didn’t seem to have Sarr in his plans. When asked about him and goalkeeper Jamie Cummings after a win over Luton, Pochettino shockingly replied, “Who?” and seemed genuinely surprised the players even existed.
Unsurprisingly, Sarr was left out of the Premier League squad and forced to train with the Under-21s. Reports said his friends were worried about how this affected him. For over a year, he didn’t play, with a move to Le Havre falling through and offers from clubs like Besiktas and AEK Athens not working out.
Finally, in July 2024, Chelsea and Sarr agreed to end his contract, believed to be worth £100,000 a week. He moved back to France with RC Lens on a permanent deal. After making 62 appearances for Lens, who finished second in the league and won the Coupe de France last season, Sarr has now surprised many by joining Saudi club NEOM S.C. Journalist Fabrizio Romano called the transfer a surprise, saying Sarr had five other offers from Europe.
Earlier this year, Sarr spoke about the Pochettino incident on the Kampo podcast. He admitted he “felt like smashing everything” when the coach seemed to forget about him but said he doesn’t hold a grudge anymore. In fact, Sarr is sure Pochettino knew him well and even tried to sign him for Tottenham back in 2019.
He explained, “Pochettino brought my agent to London to convince me to join Tottenham. When I came back from my Monaco loan, I was in rehab at Chelsea during the summer. Pochettino signed me, showed me around the club, and came to check on me. He even called his assistant and said, ‘Look who’s here, we tried to bring him to Tottenham, now he’s here with us.’ He hugged me and asked how my operation went. There’s no way he didn’t know me!”