Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish explained that the paltry size and delayed nature of Liverpool’s offer for Ismaïla Sarr ensured a deal would never go through this summer, toppling the first domino in a schism which impacted four different Premier League clubs.
Liverpool were in the market for multiple wingers this summer. Bradley Barcola would eventually be purchased from Paris Saint-Germain at great expense to complement Víctor Muñoz’s earlier arrival, yet there had been rampant speculation about a potential exit for Cody Gakpo, valued at north of $100 million, who would need a replacement. This is where Sarr entered the picture.
“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,” Parish bluntly outlined in an interview with The Athletic.
“If you’re selling players for £90 million [$119.3 million] and then you want to bid us half of that for the replacement, it’s fine, you can do it. I’m not criticizing anybody for doing it. But it’s not going to happen.
“You could understand Ismaïla 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.”
Even with the limited days left in the transfer window, Palace’s stance still had time to send plenty of ripples across the Premier League.
The Fallout at Palace, Liverpool, Man City and Tottenham From Sarr’s Failed Move
Sarr Sulks at Selhurst Park
Sarr had been linked with Turkish champions Galatasaray before he quickly set his heart on a move to Liverpool. The saga was played to a backdrop of the winger’s agent, Diomansy Kamara, accusing Palace of treating his client like a “commodity.”
“For Ismaïla, [his situation] is difficult for him to come to terms with,” Parish accepted. “He didn’t like it. Maybe it’s been painted to him in a certain way, which isn’t really the whole story.”
Palace’s chairman swiftly shifted the blame onto Sarr’s representative.
“I don’t care what [Kamara] thinks in the context of accusations against us,” Parish added. “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. 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.”
The least believable groin injury kept Sarr out of action for Palace’s first five fixtures of the new season, but the 28-year-old, who Parish hailed as a “professional,”has since returned as a substitute for Pierre Sage’s side in recent weeks.
Gakpo Taken Off the Table
Gakpo had one foot out the Anfield door during the final days of August. The Dutch international had been a figure of interest for Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, reportedly agreeing terms with the latter in what threatened to be an $112.6 million (£85 million) deal.
However, once it became clear that Liverpool could not sign Sarr or Brighton & Hove Albion’s Yankuba Minteh as his replacement, Gakpo was taken off the table.
Unlike Sarr, Gakpo dutifully played through the uncertainty and even managed to discover his best form in years. Across the first three weeks of the new campaign, Gakpo directly contributed to three goals, which is as many as he managed in his final 16 appearances of last season.
Man City Trump Tottenham
Tottenham were forced to pivot away from Gakpo earlier than City and swiftly settled upon another goal-shy Premier League winger, Iliman Ndiaye. Spurs had reportedly drawn up an agreement with Everton to buy Sarr’s compatriot for $79.5 million (£60 million) while sending Richarlison back to Merseyside for $46.4 million (£35 million).
It was an arrangement which seemingly suited everyone, until City elbowed their way into the conversation.
Despite possessing a sophisticated database compromising of 650,000 players, as the club are all too keen to boast about, City’s tactics this summer did appear to boil down to following Tottenham’s shadow. Gakpo didn’t work out so Ndiaye suddenly became their top target, storming in to agree a sum which could climb to $86.2 million (£65 million). As Ndiaye would later reveal, the allure of Champions League action—which Spurs could not offer—was too inviting to turn down.
In a sequence which began with Liverpool missing out on Sarr, Tottenham still somehow managed to emerge as the chief figures of disappointment.
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