Reported £27 million Everton, Aston Villa and Newcastle target Pape Matar Sarr is just like Barcelona play-maker Miralem Pjanic, Metz coach Olivier Perrin told Senego.
Sadio Mane, Kalidou Koulibaly, Robert Pires, Sylvain Wiltord, Louis Saha, Franck Ribery, Ismaila Sarr; these are just some of the players who honed their considerable talents at the Stade Saint-Symphorien.
And Sarr is certainly heading in the right direction if he wants to follow in the footsteps of these World Cup, Champions League and Premier League winners.
L’Equipe reported over the weekend that Newcastle, Chelsea and Everton are weighing up summer bids for the once-capped Senegal international.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton opened talks on Monday night too, via the Mail, with Metz demanding £27 million for a player who only made his senior debut in November.
Aston Villa has emerged as another potential destination for one of Ligue 1’s breakthrough stars.
And, according to Perrin, the similarities between Sarr and another one-time Metz midfielder are proving impossible to ignore.
“I immediately said to myself that he was a top player, with a very high-level (with regards to) reading and analysing the game. He is Miralem Pjanic,” Perrin said, comparing Sarr to the now £55 million Barcelona ace.
“He is really one of the different players.
“There were big, big clubs who got interested in Pape Matar Sarr when he was very, very young. But he already had a professional contract. So he had to go to FC Metz.”
With four Premier League clubs already expressing their interest, it seems unlikely that Sarr will be strutting his stuff in maroon for too long.
Could Sarr join fellow Senegal star and ex-Metz ace Sadio Mane on Merseyside?
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