Malang Sarr


Malang Sarr is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre back who is a free agent and plays the France U21 side. An academy graduate of Nice, he scored on his senior debut in 2016 and has since made over 100 appearances for the club.

Club career

Nice

Born in Nice, Sarr joined local side OGC Nice at the age of six. He spent the next 12 years in the club's academy before making his Ligue 1 debut for the club on 14 August 2016 against Rennes, aged 17. He scored the winning goal for his team in the 60th minute, heading home from a Jean-Michaël Seri free-kick. In doing so, he became the second youngest player to ever score on debut in Ligue 1, behind Nigerian international Bartholomew Ogbeche. After the match, Sarr dedicated his goal to the victims of the 2016 Nice terror attack. Prior to kick-off a minute's silence was observed in memory of the victims with both Nice and Rennes wearing unique commemorative shirts bearing the names of those who had died. On 7 November 2016, Sarr signed his first professional contract with Nice and by the end of the season had made over 30 appearances as the club ended the league campaign in third place.
In February 2018, Sarr was named by the CIES Football Observatory as the world's fifth-most promising footballer under the age of 20. Competing with Maxime Le Marchand and new loan signing Marlon, Sarr saw his game time slightly reduced but still managed to record 29 appearances across all competitions for the campaign.
On 10 August 2019, the opening day of the 2019–20 Ligue 1 campaign, Sarr made his 100th appearance for Nice across all competitions when he started in a 2–1 win over Amiens. His contract expired on 30 June 2020 and subsequently became a free agent.

International career

France national youth teams

Sarr has represented France at various youth levels and in September 2016, Sarr was named as the captain of the 20-man France U18 squad by manager Bernard Diomède for the 2016 Limoges Tournament. In 2018, he confirmed that he had been approached by the Senegalese Football Association to represent the nation but stated that he had hopes to achieve great things with France.

Personal life

Sarr was born in the neighbourhood of des Moulins in Nice. He is of Senegalese descent through his parents who immigrated to France prior to his birth.

Career statistics

Club

1 Includes Coupe de France matches.
2 Includes Coupe de la Ligue matches.