Liverpool Intensify Pursuit of Ismaila Sarr
Liverpool refuse to walk away from Ismaila Sarr. Not yet.
With the window ticking towards its final week, Fenway Sports Group’s search for a winger has taken a couple of bruises, but the club’s gaze keeps snapping back to Crystal Palace’s Senegalese star. One bid has already gone in. Another is being loaded.
Liverpool circle back for Sarr
Sarr has climbed to the top of Liverpool’s winger shortlist after a messy few weeks in the market. On August 26, The Mirror revealed that the club had tabled a £50 million offer to Palace. The player, the report said, is keen on a move to Anfield before the deadline.
Palace’s response was blunt. Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano reported that the London club rejected the proposal and that their plan is to keep the 28-year-old. No negotiating through the media, no softening of the stance. A straight “no”.
Liverpool, though, are not treating that as the end of the conversation.
Sky Sport Switzerland journalist Sacha Tavolieri posted on X at 3:04pm on August 28 that Liverpool are “making another push” for Sarr and are preparing a new proposal for Palace. The wording was clear: this is not a polite follow-up. It is a renewed attempt to force a breakthrough before the window slams shut.
The situation has attracted outside interest. Tavolieri added that Al Ittihad are watching closely and could move if Liverpool’s pursuit collapses. For now, Liverpool are in the driving seat, but they are not alone on the road.
Missed targets shape the chase
The urgency around Sarr has not appeared out of nowhere. It has been built by a series of near-misses.
Before turning seriously to the Palace winger, Liverpool pushed for Brighton and Hove Albion’s Yankuba Minteh. Brighton set a price: £70 million. Liverpool tested that stance with two bids, both short of the valuation. Brighton held firm. No deal.
Before Minteh, there was another name on the list: Ibrahim Mbaye of Paris Saint-Germain. Liverpool explored that move too, only to recoil at PSG’s £60 million asking price. The number didn’t fit the club’s model, and the talks went nowhere.
Those setbacks have sharpened the focus. With Minteh too expensive, Mbaye out of reach, and the clock ticking, Sarr has become the live option. A rejected first offer has not cooled that interest. It has intensified it.
Mbaye heads to Villa, not Anfield
While Liverpool reassess and reload, one of their earlier targets is heading elsewhere in the Premier League.
At 4:10pm on August 28, The Athletic’s David Ornstein reported on X that Aston Villa have reached an agreement in principle to sign Mbaye from PSG. The deal, he said, is being finalised at €55 million, with the relationship between PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Villa co-owner Nassef Sawiris key to pushing it over the line.
Villa, who have moved aggressively in recent windows, have stepped into the space Liverpool vacated and are now closing on an 18-year-old winger many expected to be beyond their reach.
Liverpool, meanwhile, watch one more wide option disappear from the board.
A decisive week for Liverpool’s attack
So the picture is stark. Mbaye to Villa. Minteh locked in at Brighton unless someone pays full freight. Sarr under contract at Palace, with one rejected bid already on the table and another coming.
Liverpool know they need fresh legs out wide for the long season ahead. They know the market is tight, and that every day lost narrows the field.
Now it comes down to this: how far are they willing to go to prise Sarr out of Selhurst Park before the window shuts?
