In less than 24 hours, Tottenham will battle Manchester United in Bilbao in the Europa League Final with both a spot in next season's Champions League and a whole lot of bragging rights on the line. Spurs are coming into this game hobbled with James Maddison, Lucas Bergvall, and Dejan Kulusevski all out for the season to dwindle down the team's creativity and ball progression in the attacking midfield.
There were some rumblings that, by some miracle, Spurs could have one of Maddison or Bergvall available, with many fans holding onto the Swedish international's return as a potential game-changer against Manchester United.
That, of course, isn't happening, as much as diehard football fans love to delude themselves into dream land. The Daily Mail's Nathan Salt relayed his observation that neither Maddison nor Bergvall were present at the training on the day before the Europa League Final, essentially ruling them out of the Manchester United clash.
Tottenham will have one key midfielder healthy
However, in a positive twist, a previously questionable player was available, effectively confirming his availability. Young center midfielder Pape Sarr suffered an injury after 53 hard-fought minutes against Aston Villa in a 2-0 Premier League loss a couple of days ago, calling his status into question for Wednesday night's do-or-die fixture.
Sarr is part of the Tottenham group training ahead of the game, and with three midfielders already ruled out, Spurs will need the 22-year-old Senegalese international to be at his best. He's the most dynamic box-to-box midfielder in the side with Bergvall out, and he and Rodrigo Bentancur will likely be the double pivot of choice behind, potentially, the unproven Wilson Odobert as a high-risk, high-reward No. 10 replacement for Maddison.
The defensive work and running Sarr provides will be crucial for Tottenham if they want to secure this major piece of silverware against another fallen Premier League giant. Sarr has to be as close to 100 percent healthy as possible, so the fact that he is able to practice with his teammates is an important sign.
Tottenham have suffered more than enough bad injury news as of late, so getting confirmed word that Sarr is healthy enough to practice and in a good position to play a significant role against Manchester United is the right kind of injury news for Spurs. Sarr has his ups and downs, but the young No. 8 is definitely an asset to this current Tottenham squad. It's good to see he is out there.