Former Chelsea defender hits back after Pochettino forgot his name: ‘Who?!’
'I took it badly. It shouldn’t have happened.'
Ex-Chelsea defender Malang Sarr has hit out at Mauricio Pochettino after the manager seemingly forgot he existed during their time together at Stamford Bridge.
Sarr joined Chelsea in 2020, putting pen to paper on a five-year deal, but the centre-back struggled to make an impact in west London and left in the summer having after playing 21 games for the Blues.
Having swapped Chelsea for Lens, Sarr is keen to put his disappointing few years behind him and the 25-year-old has enjoyed a promising start on his return to the France, with the club sitting eighth in Ligue 1.
Perhaps the lowest point of Sarr’s time at Chelsea came in August 2023, when Pochettino was left visibly bewildered at the mere mention of his name while facing the media.
After a convincing 3-0 victory over Luton, Pochettino’s first competitive win in charge of Chelsea, the Argentine was asked why both Sarr and goalkeeper Jamie Cumming had failed to make the matchday squad.
‘Who?!’ a blank-faced Pochettino replied, before adding: ‘Oh my goodness, I don’t know what I can tell you.
‘I don’t know because you surprised me! It’s like you punch and I am like this [shocked] because we were talking about Luton!’
A proposed loan move to Le Havre fell through that following winter and Sarr did not feature in a single other match for Chelsea.
Pochettino even forced Sarr to train with the Under-21 squad for much of last season and close friends of the defender were said to be seriously concerned about his state of mind.
However, speaking with L’Equipe, Sarr insisted he had ‘no regrets’ about his disappointing experience in England, before opening up on his reaction to Pochettino’s infamous snub.
‘I took it badly. It shouldn’t have happened,’ Sarr told the French newspaper.
‘He knew me. He even tried to sign me at Tottenham. I didn’t ask for an explanation.’
Sarr added: ‘Was I a victim of the football business? That’s a big word but yes, I paid the price.
‘If this exclusion had been linked to my performances, or to the fact that I wasn’t a good person, I would have had to work on myself.
‘But I experienced all that in spite of myself.’
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