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



Coach Ivankovic Fired by Chinese Following World Cup Elimination

Referee Rustam Lutfullin (R) talks with China’s head coach Branko Ivankovic (C) during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification match between Indonesia and China in Jakarta, Indonesia, 05 June 2025. EPA/BAGUS INDAHONO
Referee Rustam Lutfullin (R) talks with China’s head coach Branko Ivankovic (C) during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification match between Indonesia and China in Jakarta, Indonesia, 05 June 2025. EPA/BAGUS INDAHONO
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Coach Ivankovic Fired by Chinese Following World Cup Elimination

Referee Rustam Lutfullin (R) talks with China’s head coach Branko Ivankovic (C) during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification match between Indonesia and China in Jakarta, Indonesia, 05 June 2025. EPA/BAGUS INDAHONO
Referee Rustam Lutfullin (R) talks with China’s head coach Branko Ivankovic (C) during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification match between Indonesia and China in Jakarta, Indonesia, 05 June 2025. EPA/BAGUS INDAHONO

Branko Ivankovic has been fired as China's national team coach following his side's elimination from the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup this month, the Chinese Football Association announced on Friday.

The 71-year-old Croatian coach was removed from the post as a result of China finishing fifth in Group C of the continent's preliminaries for next year's 48-team finals, which will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

"The Chinese Football Association expresses gratitude to Mr. Branko Ivankovic and his coaching staff for their dedicated efforts during their tenure with the men's national team and their contributions to Chinese football," Reuters quoted a CFA statement as saying.

"We wish Mr. Ivankovic all the best in his future work and life."

Ivankovic, who led Iran at the World Cup finals in Germany in 2006, was appointed China's coach in February 2024, replacing Aleksandar Jankovic. He steered the country into the third phase of Asia's World Cup qualifying.

His team recovered from a poor start, which included a 7-0 thrashing at the hands of Japan, to maintain their hopes of a place at their first World Cup since the nation's debut appearance at the finals in 2002.

Wins over Indonesia and Bahrain kept China in contention for a berth in the fourth round of qualifying, but losses to Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia were followed by a defeat against Indonesia on June 5 that ended any prospect of progressing.

The Chinese association said Dejan Djurdjevic, who led China to the quarter-finals of the Under 20 Asian Cup in Shenzhen in February, will take over on a caretaker basis for next month's East Asian Championship in South Korea.