Graceful Davinson Sánchez Brings Touch of Baresi to Tottenham’s Backline

Tottenham’s Davinson Sanchez keeps close watch on Alexis Sánchez of Arsenal in the north London derby. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Tottenham’s Davinson Sanchez keeps close watch on Alexis Sánchez of Arsenal in the north London derby. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
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Graceful Davinson Sánchez Brings Touch of Baresi to Tottenham’s Backline

Tottenham’s Davinson Sanchez keeps close watch on Alexis Sánchez of Arsenal in the north London derby. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Tottenham’s Davinson Sanchez keeps close watch on Alexis Sánchez of Arsenal in the north London derby. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Rarely can a club have broken their transfer record with such little fanfare. When Davinson Sánchez arrived at Tottenham in August for a fee of up to £42m, most headlines simply noted that at last Spurs had bought someone, anyone, after a summer of inactivity. Three months later, however, and that fee now seems significant because it is starting to look like a bargain.

The 21-year-old Colombian centre‑half has taken to the upper echelons of club football with an ease as graceful as his running style. It was his Sánchez on Sánchez tackle that led to the free-kick which opened the scoring in last Saturday’s north London derby. But it was not a foul. Holding off the Chilean, Davinson reached his long leg around his opponent to scoop the ball away. He was Tottenham’s most composed defender on an unexpectedly torrid afternoon and carried that performance into midweek where he won his duel with Dortmund’s feted striker Pierre‑Emerick Aubameyang.

Sánchez combines imperious physicality with impeccable pace, but most striking is his composure. For someone so young, though the defender’s single previous season in European football was a marquee one at Ajax, he never seems ruffled. He is able to read a defensive situation effectively and choose the appropriate means to deal with it. His role model, one he acquired after involved YouTube study, is Franco Baresi. You can understand why.

Yes, he makes mistakes; Aubameyang ghosted behind him to turn Andriy Yarmolenko’s glorious backheel past Hugo Lloris for the opening goal on Tuesday. But he has not made many and his manager, Mauricio Pochettino, looked pleased at being finally able to wax lyrical about his acquisition.

“I am so happy with him,” Pochettino said before Saturday’s Premier League encounter with West Bromwich Albion. “He is doing well, very well. He’s only 21 years old but he is more mature than that. In only a few months, he’s showing he can do a fantastic job for us.

“You see against Dortmund how many times he was with Aubameyang one v one. Or look against Swansea against Tammy Abraham, or Real Madrid against Cristiano Ronaldo. How many central defenders can play one v one and escape? How many players can be tight and press and think ‘If you run, I run’ because they are so confident in their running? Not many centre-backs in the world can do this. But we expect more from him. He’s one of the best today, but there is massive potential for him to improve.”

For his manager those areas of potential include, well, everything. “Tactical, physical condition, technique, every single aspect because he’s still very young,” Pochettino said. “He arrived late in the transfer market and with no proper pre-season because he was playing in the qualification for the national team in Colombia. He had no time to work with us. We need one month and a half or two months’ pre-season with him and then I’m sure he’s going to show a different level.”

Sánchez’s career to this early point has been action-packed. He has made 16 appearances for Tottenham this season, and played 45 times for Ajax as they finished runners-up in the Dutch and Europa League. Before that, as a 19-year-old, he won the Copa Libertadores with his boyhood club Atlético Nacional of Medellin. That season he learned his trade as a defender having passed through the Nacional youth system in midfield.

Asked why Sánchez has adjusted to the rigours of the Premier and Champions League so quickly, Pochettino said: “Because he’s so clever, very humble and he’s very open to learn.

“He’s a player that when you tell him something his reaction is to be open and be critical with himself. That is a massive skill for a player, when he’s so open to improve”.

If Sánchez continues the progress he has made in each year of his career so far, Pochettino is confident his name will feature in many more headlines yet. “He has the opportunity to be one of the best centre-halves in the world.”

The Guardian Sport



'World's Oldest Marathon Runner' Dies Aged 114 in Road Accident

 (FILES) Indian-born British national Fauja Singh (C) waves a Hong Kong flag after crossing the finish line in the 10-km event as part of the Hong Kong Marathon on February 24, 2013. (Photo by Dale DE LA REY / AFP)
(FILES) Indian-born British national Fauja Singh (C) waves a Hong Kong flag after crossing the finish line in the 10-km event as part of the Hong Kong Marathon on February 24, 2013. (Photo by Dale DE LA REY / AFP)
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'World's Oldest Marathon Runner' Dies Aged 114 in Road Accident

 (FILES) Indian-born British national Fauja Singh (C) waves a Hong Kong flag after crossing the finish line in the 10-km event as part of the Hong Kong Marathon on February 24, 2013. (Photo by Dale DE LA REY / AFP)
(FILES) Indian-born British national Fauja Singh (C) waves a Hong Kong flag after crossing the finish line in the 10-km event as part of the Hong Kong Marathon on February 24, 2013. (Photo by Dale DE LA REY / AFP)

India's Fauja Singh, believed to be the world's oldest distance runner, has died in a road accident aged 114, his biographer said Tuesday.

Singh, an Indian-born British national, nicknamed the "Turbaned Tornado", died after being hit by a vehicle in Punjab state's Jalandhar district on Monday, AFP reported.

"My Turbaned Tornado is no more," Fauja's biographer Khushwant Singh wrote on X.

"He was struck by an unidentified vehicle... in his village, Bias, while crossing the road. Rest in peace, my dear Fauja."

Singh did not have a birth certificate but his family said he was born on April 1, 1911.

He ran full marathons (42 kilometer) till the age of 100.

His last race was a 10-kilometer (six-mile) event at the 2013 Hong Kong Marathon when 101, where he finished in one hour, 32 minutes and 28 seconds.

He became an international sensation after taking up distance running at the ripe old age of 89, after the death of his wife and one of his sons, inspired by seeing marathons on television.

Although widely regarded as the world's oldest marathon runner, he was not certified by Guinness World Records as he could not prove his age, saying that birth certificates did not exist when he was born under British colonial rule in 2011.

Singh was a torchbearer for the Olympics at Athens 2004 and London 2012, and appeared in advertisements with sports stars such as David Beckham and Muhammad Ali.

His strength and vitality were credited to a routine of farm walks and a diet including Indian sweet "laddu" packed with dry fruits and home-churned curd.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute on social media.

"Fauja Singh was extraordinary because of his unique persona and the manner in which he inspired the youth of India on a very important topic of fitness," said Modi on X.

"He was an exceptional athlete with incredible determination. Pained by his passing away. My thoughts are with his family and countless admirers around the world."