Ismaila Sarr with Liverpool badge
Agent Diomansy Kamara has demanded more respect for African footballers after Ismaila Sarr was prevented from joining Liverpool by Crystal Palace late in the summer transfer window.
Liverpool signed Victor Munoz early in the summer window before deciding to pursue two more wingers to give Andoni Iraola strong attacking options. The Reds succeeded in landing Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain, completing a huge £123million deal, but they failed to add a specialist right winger to Iraola’s squad.
Liverpool deemed Barcola’s former PSG team-mate Ibrahim Mbaye as too expensive, allowing Aston Villa to sign him for €55m/£47m instead.
Liverpool instead turned their attention to Palace hitman Sarr and Yankuba Minteh of Brighton.
We confirmed on Tuesday that Liverpool had recently seen a £40m approach for Sarr knocked back by Palace.
As per Fabrizio Romano, Liverpool also offered Palace £50m for the Senegal star, though this has been disputed by other sources.
Sarr’s dream of moving to Anfield was scuppered on deadline day as Palace informed Liverpool they would not be selling him, even for £50m or higher.
It was a frustrating day for Sarr’s agent Kamara, as another one of his clients – Lamine Camara – saw Monaco cancel his £47m switch to Chelsea at the last minute.
Those setbacks saw the representative post on social media: ‘The cases of Ismaïla Sarr and Lamine Camara must all interrogate us.
‘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.’
Liverpool also had £50m and £60m bids for Minteh rejected by Brighton.
Jamie Carragher questions Liverpool business
They were weighing up an improved offer but were ultimately put off by Brighton’s £80m price tag.
Liverpool were linked with Stuttgart’s Jamie Leweling as a late solution to their winger hunt, but those rumours came to nothing in the end.
When asked about Liverpool’s transfers, Jamie Carragher said: “I’m disappointed. I’m not quite sure what we’re going to do on that right wing right now.
“It doesn’t look a balanced squad. Liverpool are short in full-back areas and probably a midfield player as well.
“I sit there scratching my head and thinking, ‘We’ve got four left wingers; we haven’t got one right winger.’ Something like that just doesn’t feel right to me.
“Liverpool won the league just over a year ago. We spent an awful lot of money since then and I don’t think anybody inside Liverpool or Liverpool supporters really believe we can win the league this season, or the manager’s got the tools to go and win the league this season, and that just doesn’t feel right.”
Meanwhile, Liverpool have reportedly identified an early transfer target for 2027.