Why Ismaila Sarr may be on Liverpool’s radar
Ismaila Sarr is the biggest talent blooming you may have never heard of yet. Perhaps you have seen a game or a few highlights of him from the World Cup in Russia where he put up some dazzling moments of brillance on the pitch. Either way, you best be keeping an eye on this star in the making.
Origins
Ismaila Sarr was born in Saint Louis, Senegal and started his footballing career at the famed Senegalese football academy Generation Foot. This Academy has produced many notable footballers like Liverpool’s Sadio Mane, Papiss Cisse, Diafra Sakho among others. FC Metz has had a partnership with Generation foot since 2000 where top young talents are provided a gateway to progress through them into Europe. He joined FC Metz in 2016 on a five year deal and has followed an identical path like that of Sadio Mane. His stay at FC Metz was just a season long as Ligue 1 side Rennes was eyeing a player that was “similar” to Ousmane Dembele who they had just sold to BVB. Rennes was not the only side who showed interest as FC Barcelona was eager to sign him. He refused and had said in an interview later that it was important for him to develop more before going to such a club. Clearly he is a player who is being advised well by his Senegalese agent Thierno Seydi. Ismaila opened up in an interview after signing for Rennes that he did not even know where Rennes was or where they played as he just did what this agent asked him to do! Thierno Seydi also knows his compatriot Sadio Mane well as he is arguably the biggest star to come out of Senegal in recent memory.
Playing Style
It was no surprise Rennes wanted to replace the prodigy Ousmane Dembele with a player that had similar playing style and attributes and the set their sights on Ismaila. An explosive winger who can play both left wing and right wing with ease (similar to Ousmane), who has incredible pace and dribbling ability along with an uncanny ability to find the goal from long range. He is still a work in progress but under the right coach he would be unstoppable. His one time coach Philippe Hinschberger raved that Ismaila “ is a player capable of extraordinary breaks…he has got a great touch, when he gets a chance to stretch his legs its hard to catch him”. It is quite salivating to imagine him developing under a coach like Jurgen Klopp who has been responsible for developing numerous world class players. After all, Sadio Mane’s agent Bjorn Bezemer revealed that the player decided to join Liverpool because he knew Jurgen Klopp could help him fulfil his huge potential.
Connection
It is no secret that these days its players who are themselves the biggest catalyst when it comes to signing for a team. Liverpool’s own recent tranfer signings are all examples of such connections. Notable ones are Coutinho who convinced Roberto Firmino during the Copa in Chile in 2015 that Liverpool was the best place for him. Firmino himself was a key person in enticing compatriots Alisson and Fabinho into the club. Gini Wijnaldum put in a word with Netherlands teammate Virgil Van Dijk. Sadio Mane convinced Naby Keita (who are both represented by Arena 11 Sports agency) to join Liverpool over many other suitors etc. Sadio will no doubt have spent plenty of time with Ismaila in the World Cup in Russia as they were both in action for the team. If “asked” by Liverpool, agent Sadio can be very helpful in enticing the youngster to join (also as mentioned above, Sadio knows Ismaila’s agent Thierno as well). Another key player that maybe influential would be the newest Scout hired by Liverpool, Sylvian N’Diaye. He is a french born Senegalese who spent the majority of his playing career in Ligue 1. He was brought into scout the iberain peninsula under Kiko Espinar. Still, he is well connected to Ligue 1 having played there and most recently worked as a scout for PSG. Add to that the Seneglaese connection and you can see why it would make sense for a reasonable assumption that Ismaila Sarr would register on the radar for Liverpool’s scouting team. If you have paid close attention recently you may have seen a tweet from a person who works for Liverpool Football Club singing the praises of the wonder goal Ismaila Sarr struck recently in the 2- 1 Europa Cup win against Jablonec.
It is entirely possible that Liverpool may not have him on our radar but given the many possible links, it would not be far fetched by any means to say that there maybe inerest there. His agent recently said “ Many agents from the UK have called me proposing to work with them and Ismaïla to get him to the Premier League, the price will be around €50 million — €60 million”. This would indeed be a bargain as if the next opportunity to sign him is missed and he keeps developing, no one would be suprised if his price tag moves north of the 100M mark quickly. There may indeed be a window next summer, if the desire exists for Liverpool to sign a player who would be very exciting and would blossom into a world class player under Jurgen Klopp.
