Liverpool made a £50million bid for Crystal Palace winger Ismaila Sarr in the final week of the summer transfer window, a fee which Steve Parish never entertained
Ismaila Sarr of Crystal Palace is in action during the Premier League match between Leeds United and Crystal Palace at Elland Road in Leeds, United Kingdom, on September 20, 2026. (Photo by Maynard Manyowa/News Images/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Ismaila Sarr wanted to join Liverpool(Image: Maynard Manyowa/News Images/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has told Liverpool that accepting their £50million bid for Ismaila Sarr was 'never going to happen'. The Reds made such an offer for the winger with five days left of the summer transfer window, but it was firmly rejected by Palace.
Sarr, 28, was also a target for Turkish giants Galatasaray but was again denied a move away from Selhurst Park. His agent, Diomansy Kamara, made a series of public outbursts over Palace's handing of the Senegal international, who removed all references to the Eagles on his social media accounts.
Parish has now given the club's side of the story in an interview with The Athletic. "It's unfortunate with Ismaila, but that wasn't really a situation that was of our doing," the Palace chief claimed.
"A club (Liverpool) came in and, with the amount of money they bid, they couldn't seriously think in that market it was going to get done at that level, and then they didn't come back in for him. If you're selling players for £90m and then you want to bid us half of that for the replacement, it's fine, you can do it.
"I'm not criticising anybody for doing it. But it's not going to happen. You could understand Ismaila would have liked to go and if it wasn't five days before the end of the window and the money was right, then we would have tried to facilitate it.
"I don't care what (Kamara) thinks in the context of accusations against us. If any football club gets a bid for their top scorer five days before the end of a transfer window, that's going to be a difficult deal to get done.
"I would say to those representatives that the good ones would be managing those expectations with the player and not making it everybody else's fault. It's their job to get that bid earlier.
RED BULL ARENA, LEIPZIG, GERMANY - 2026/05/27: Steve Parish, chairman of Crystal Palace FC, looks on during the award ceremony following the UEFA Conference League 2025/26 final football match between Crystal Palace FC and Rayo Vallecano de Madrid. Crystal Palace FC won 1-0 over Rayo Vallecano de Madrid. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Steve Parish says that Liverpool's bid was too little too late(Image: Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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"They get paid by the player and the club and are there to help everybody oil the wheels. It doesn't help anybody when you go in the media and make unfounded accusations."
Sarr finished last season as Palace's top goalscorer with 21 in all competitions before a productive World Cup in which he netted four times and registered one assist. An ankle injury has restricted the former Watford star to just two appearances as a substitute this season, but he was named in Patrick Vieira's first squad as Senegal manager for their upcoming matches.