Inside Ismaila Sarr’s failed Liverpool move with Crystal Palace ace ‘heartbroken’ he can’t emulate hero Sadio Mane

LIVERPOOL made two bids in an attempt to sign Crystal Palace star Ismaila Sarr. But both bids were turned down to leave the winger heartbroken. Ismaila Sarr saw his dream move to Liverpool blocked by Palace who said they were not willing to sell Credit: Getty Sarr pushed to follow in the footsteps of idol Sadio Mane who played at Liverpool Credit: AP Sarr’s agent, Diosmansey Kamara, posted on Instagram, highlighting why he felt African players were not shown enough respect. He was coming off a brilliant season with Palace, where he scored 21 goals and helped the Eagles win the Europa Conference League. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! The season before that, he was key as they won the FA Cup, beating Manchester City at Wembley. And has been the one to truly replace Wilfried Zaha, who left a couple of seasons ago and has since been back at Selhurst Park, training at the club’s base in south London. SunSport has been told that Palace chairman Steve Parish had made it clear to the player and his team that under no circumstances would Sarr be sold this summer. The main reason was that he did not want to give new manager Pierre Sage too much to do, given they had already lost some key players, such as Daniel Munoz. The same reason was given for turning down all the interest they had in midfielder Adam Wharton. To add to Sarr’s frustration, he still has three years left on his contract and SunSport has been told that strengthened Palace’s resolve when it came to dealing with interest in the Senegalese star. Most read in Sport SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET UP TO £100 BONUS Earlier in the summer, there was a bid in the region of £30million from Galatasaray, which was turned down by the Eagles and the expectation was that the Turkish giants would return for him. Sources close to the player told The Sun: “There was a strong offer from Galatasaray and two from Liverpool, but Liverpool just did not want to sell, there wasn’t much we could do given they had totally refused to negotiate.” SunSport also understands that Liverpool did not return after their second bid, instead going all-out to seal a deal for Bradley Barcola. They had first enquired about Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh, who is currently injured, but had a bid in the region of £60million to £65million turned down, even though SunSport was told that a fee in the region of £70million would have been able to turn the tide. They were, however, not willing to spend close to the £65million they bid for Minteh on Sarr, even though the Senegalese star had a better season in south London. Liverpool had also looked at Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh and had two bids for him turned down Credit: Getty Liverpool would also have looked at Sarr’s age, another reason the player’s representatives were pushing to get the deal done. They argued that this would have been a dream move for the former Watford man, who grew up idolising former Liverpool star Sadio Mane. By the morning of transfer deadline day, SunSport was told that Sarr’s move to Liverpool was off and that Palace had heard their claims and received bids, but their position was simply that they were not selling. He’s missed the first two league games of the season with the club claiming he was injured but he’ll be slowly integrated into the squad now that the window is shut- and the expectation is that he will get his head down and get to work. Comment now