U-20 Big 5 player, what's going on in Chelsea?
Last updated
Last updated
Chelsea center back Malang Sarr has become a "bottleneck of barley brams." He is forgotten in everyone's memory and has been playing in the first team for almost a year.
Global sports media "The Athletic" published an article titled "Chelsea's Forgotten Player, Malang Sarr" on the 20th and announced his desperate willingness to escape Chelsea.
Sar left OGC Nice in France to join Chelsea back in 2020. At the time, he was one of the promising players. In 2018, the International Institute for Sports CIES, which calculates various indicators of a sports player and estimates his ransom, reported Sar as the fifth highest among athletes under the age of 20.
After making 119 appearances in Nice, he left for Chelsea. Chelsea was able to easily recruit him because it was a free agent. Sarra, who signed a five-year contract worth 100,000 pounds about 140 million won a week, spent the year on loan at Porto, a strong team in Portugal.
After returning to Chelsea, Sar received several opportunities from then-manager Thomas Tuchel. During the 2021-2022 season, Sar played a total of 21 matches, and started the first and second matches of the League Cup semifinals against Tottenham Hotspur. At that time, he was also a substitute at the FIFA Club World Cup, where the winners of club competitions in different continents gathered, and Chelsea won its first ever Club World Cup trophy.
However, the owner changed and Sarr's position was drastically reduced. Towards the end of the 2021-2022 season, American businessman Todd Boehly became the owner of Chelsea. Boehly boldly injected money into Chelsea and recruited several outstanding defenders, including Kalidou Koulibaly, Wesley Fofana, and Marc Cucurella. The Athletic said that Boehly invested about 160 million pounds 269.4 billion won just to strengthen the defense line.
In the end, Sar was forced to move back to AS Monaco in France on loan. In the meantime, Chelsea inserted an optional full transfer clause worth 12.6 million pounds about 21.2 billion won to dispose of him. However, Sar played in only 17 games and injured his abdominal muscle in the second half of the season, prompting Monaco to send Sar back to Chelsea without invoking the clause.
The injury he suffered required surgery. As he underwent surgery in May 2023, new coach Mauricio Pochettino went on a pre-season tour to the U.S. without Sarr. During that time, he started training with U-21 players. And to this day, Sarr has not even been called up to the first team, let alone played in the Premier League, and has been relegated to the second team.
Even worse, Pochettino, the current manager, was unaware of his existence. Pochettino, who won 3-0 against Luton Town in a Premier League third-round match in late August, stammered heavily when Sarr's name came up at a press conference, reaffirming his name.
According to the video clip released at the time, the reporter asked, "How will Sar be used as a forgotten player?" Pochettino replied, "Sar?" and quickly exchanged words with his aides. "I don't know how to respond. I feel like I was punched while sitting," he said, avoiding the question by taking a ridiculous attitude. "After the press conference, Sar was completely removed from Chelsea's Premier League roster," The Athletic added.
Sar was desperate. He has been trying to move since last summer after realising where he is. But Chelsea have kept this out of the way.
Last month, Sar requested that he be released without a transfer fee, and Chelsea, which has no plans to hire Sar, accepted the request. Sar also requested that half of Sar's remaining salary be paid until the contract expires. Sar's remaining salary under his contract was 9.36 million pounds about 15.7 billion won. Sar requested about 8 billion won as a penalty.
Chelsea said it could not cut the entire half and would cut some more. According to The Athletic, as Le Havre AC of French Ligue 1 proposed to Sarr at the time, Sarr accepted Chelsea's demand for a cut and completed a medical examination for Le Havre, which was close to a new beginning.
However, with just minutes left before the deadline for the transfer window, Chelsea abruptly canceled Sarr's contract for Le Havre. This was because Sarr, who was leaving, could not be given a single penny of his remaining salary.
This is in line with Le Havre sports director Mathieu Bodmer's remarks. "Chelsea did something wrong with Sarr," Bodmer said after his contract was canceled, adding, "I just need to adjust a few more details, but all of a sudden he made a 'U-turn'. They agreed to allow Sarr to transfer, but they tried to change the terms several times."
According to an aide to Sarr interviewed by The Athletic, Sarr is now very discouraged. "I've never seen Sarr look so sullen," the aide said. "He tries to hide his feelings, but I know him well. He thinks he's alienated."
Currently, Chelsea alternately deploy Levi Colwill, Axel Disassie, and Thiago Silva as key defenders, and Trevor Chalobah, Benoit Badiashil and Fofana are substitutes. Four of them are available even though Badiashil and Fofana are out due to injury.
"Despite this series of situations, Sar is just a happy memory at Chelsea," "The Athletic" said, adding, "But now I'm ready to leave the team to develop my career."