Ismaïla Sarr's Agent Critiques Treatment of African Players
Ismaïla Sarr’s agent has gone public after Liverpool failed to land the Crystal Palace winger, using a powerful statement to accuse clubs of treating African players like “commodities”.
Liverpool spent the final days of the window hunting for one more wide forward after sealing deals for Victor Munoz and completing a huge £123million move for Bradley Barcola. They opened talks with Palace for Sarr and also pushed for Yankuba Minteh at Brighton as they tried to arm Andoni Iraola with a third winger.
The Merseyside club tested Palace’s resolve with a £40m offer for Sarr. Reports from Fabrizio Romano suggested Liverpool even went as high as £50m for the Senegal star, though that figure was quickly dismissed by other sources. What is clear is that negotiations hit a wall once Palace made it known they wanted more than £50m and would not sanction a late sale.
Liverpool also looked at Ibrahim Mbaye during their discussions over Barcola, but allowed the 18-year-old to head to Aston Villa for €55m (£47m) instead.
At the same time, another of Diomansy Kamara’s clients saw a big move collapse. Lamine Camara’s proposed £47m transfer to Chelsea fell apart when Monaco backed away from selling the midfielder at the last moment.
Those twin disappointments prompted Kamara to publish a lengthy message on social media, using the failed Sarr and Camara moves to highlight what he sees as a wider problem.
“The cases of Ismaïla Sarr and Lamine Camara must all interrogate us,” he wrote. “We have to get out of this logic where the African player can sometimes give the feeling that he is just a commodity: you buy it, you set its price, you negotiate its future and, too often, your will seems to go to the background.
“Our African players deserve respect. The respect of their work. The respect of their career. Respecting their ambitions. The respect of their voices.
“A transfer shouldn’t just be a matter of two clubs and numbers. Behind every contract, there’s a man, a career, dreams and life choices.
“The fact that clubs can sometimes have the final word is a reality of professional football.
“But one question remains: what about the career and the will of the player? The player must be able to be heard and respected in the decisions that determine his future.
“Let’s never forget what’s important: behind every success, it’s the players who write history first.”
Sarr’s own stance was clear enough. Manchester United and Galatasaray both registered interest in the winger, and as the window ticked on he removed all Palace-related images from his Instagram account in an effort to push a summer move. United never turned their admiration into a formal bid, while Galatasaray’s proposals fell well short of the £50m mark and were brushed aside.
Liverpool’s search for a winger did not stop with Sarr. They went hard for Minteh, seeing verbal offers of £50m and then £60m rejected by Brighton. Iraola’s side weighed up going even higher, with an improved package in the region of £65-70m under consideration, but Brighton’s £80m valuation killed that idea.
So Liverpool end the window with Barcola as the headline attacking arrival, a signing that has rightly generated excitement on the red half of Merseyside. Yet the mood is not entirely celebratory. Supporters are already asking whether failing to land that third winger – on top of missing out on a new right-back and central midfielder – leaves this squad one piece short of a genuine title push.
