Ismaila Sarr wants out of Selhurst Park before Tuesday’s 11pm deadline.
That much has been clear for a week, since Liverpool made their approach for the Senegal international as they hunt a right-sided attacker to further improve their attack.
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The player’s camp has been briefing confidence.
Journalist Khadim Diakhaté reported that a source close to the deal expects it to go through, with Liverpool preparing an improved offer after an initial £50m proposal.
Sarr himself has made his preference obvious enough that Palace can’t claim to be blindsided.
Sky Sports report that Palace are not moving.
Their position is that Sarr is not for sale, full stop, with three years still to run on a contract that expires in 2029.
No price has been set because they’re not inviting one.
With the window shutting in roughly 48 hours, a club that sells its most productive attacker without a replacement lined up is a club planning a difficult autumn, and Palace have already been through that argument with Marc Guehi.
The contract length is what makes the stance credible.
Palace aren’t negotiating from a cliff edge in 2027, they’re negotiating from a position where refusing costs them nothing beyond an unhappy player.
Sarr turns 29 in February, so there’s a case that this summer represents peak value, but that’s a Liverpool argument, not a Palace one.
There’s also the small matter of fitness.
Sarr has missed Palace’s first two league games of the season through injury, which weakens any suggestion he’s holding the club to ransom through performance and complicates Liverpool’s due diligence.
Signing an injured winger for £50m or more, four days before your squad list is locked, is not a comfortable purchase.
It’s the same problem attached to Yankuba Minteh, who remains one of the options under consideration at Anfield and isn’t expected back until October after Brighton rejected bids of £50m and £60m against a £70m valuation.
That’s the shape of Liverpool’s deadline.
Bradley Barcola is arriving from PSG for an initial £100m rising to £120m, but he’s a left winger, so the Salah replacement question is untouched.
Sarr and Minteh are the two names still live, both currently unavailable to play, both belonging to clubs who have said no more than once.
Palace’s calculation is simple: they can’t sign a replacement of Sarr’s level in two days, and losing him leaves them thin in a season with European football to manage alongside the league.
Liverpool’s calculation is whether an improved bid changes a stance that Sky Sports describes as firm rather than negotiable.
One of those positions has to bend by 11pm on Tuesday, or nothing happens at all.
Palace, holding a contract to 2029 and no obligation to sell, are under no pressure to be the one that does.
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