Crystal Palace plan to keep Ismaila Sarr despite Liverpool interest

Crystal Palace manager Pierre Sage says the club intend to retain Ismaila Sarr beyond the January transfer window, despite revealing that the Senegal international had wanted to join Liverpool.

Liverpool made a late approach for the winger before the transfer window closed on 1 September, but Crystal Palace rejected the advances and kept the 28-year-old at Selhurst Park.

Sarr was reportedly disappointed when the proposed move failed to materialise. Sage accepted that Liverpool represented a major opportunity for the forward, but said the immediate priority was for the player to recover from injury and move on from the transfer disappointment.

Sage told BBC Sport: “Like every bad situation, time does the job and we need time for that.

“He needs time too.

“First of all he needs to recover because he was and is injured.

“He is our player and we are happy with that.”

The manager acknowledged that Sarr would need to process the collapse of the move, but stressed that the winger could still have a significant part to play for Crystal Palace this season.

Sage said: “He has to digest for sure because it’s a dream for a lot of players to play with this kind of club (Liverpool).

“He had a good opportunity but in the end it didn’t work.

“If he wants to continue, you have to have a good season with us as he did last year.

“We know he needs time.”

Sarr’s recovery comes as Crystal Palace balance their domestic commitments with involvement in European competition. Asked whether the player could leave in January, or at the end of the season, Sage expressed doubts about a mid-season transfer.

The Palace manager said clubs were already committed to their campaigns and pointed to the need to make decisions about the squad for the latter stages of Europe.

“I don’t think (he will leave), I don’t think because all the clubs are in their season.

“We have a decision to take about the European list.”

Sage added: “It’s difficult to move the team when you are in this competition.”

For now, Palace’s position is that Sarr remains part of their plans, while the player concentrates on recovering from his injury. The club’s involvement in Europe and the need to finalise their squad for the competition are further factors that could make a January departure difficult.

Sarr must now regain fitness and reproduce the form he showed last season if he is to play his way back into the Palace side. Sage believes time will be important as the winger adjusts to missing out on what he regarded as a dream move to Liverpool.