Confident Chelsea defender compares himself to two different world class defenders on eve of Blues debut | OneFootball

This summer Club World Cup is exciting because it means we don’t have to sit through weeks of transfer chatter without any actual action to enjoy.

With that being said, most people’s favourite part of this whole tournament is… seeing the new signings in action earlier than usual. Just look at the reactions to Liam Delap’s brief little cameo against LAFC on Monday night.

Sarr the next Chelsea star looking for a debut

Mamadou Sarr trains with Malo Gusto. (Photo by Chris Lee/Chelsea FC)

Delap got a go, as did fellow new man Dario Essugo. But Mamadou Sarr, another new arrival, has yet to make his debut. He will hope that changes tomorrow night when we play Flamengo.

He spoke in quotes picked up by the Evening Standard about his experiences training with the Blues since joining us from sister club Strasbourg a couple of weeks ago.

His opening statement was pretty bold, let’s put it that way:

“I want to be like Virgil van Dijk,” Sarr declared.

“He’s a leader. For a defender, it’s very important to be a leader. Off and on the pitch, I talk a lot. It’s an important job.”

Sarr says he’s compared to Konate

But it’s another Liverpool defender he gets compared to more often, apparently:

“I love Van Dijk. But some people tell me I play like Ibrahima Konaté. It’s very similar. I think I anticipate well. With the ball, I can pick a good pass. When I was a kid, I had a dream. It was to be the best centre back in the world.”

Well, we’d love him to be a Van Dijk. But nobody is going to be complaining if he ends up as a Konate, let’s face it. This should be a solid season of development as a squad player for Sarr, but if he sweeps into the team tomorrow night and dominates, there’s no way he can’t win a starting spot pretty quickly.