Crystal Palace are staring at the one scenario this bruised start to the season could not afford: losing their talisman while the window clock ticks down.
Ismaila Sarr, the explosive winger who helped drag the club to silverware last season, is pushing for a move to Liverpool before deadline day. Palace insist he is not for sale. The player’s social media tells a different story.
Sarr, under contract for another three years, has wiped his Instagram of Palace content, a modern football flare gun that leaves little room for ambiguity. Liverpool see him as the ideal replacement for Cody Gakpo, with the Dutchman being heavily courted by Manchester City.
Inside Selhurst Park, the stance is clear. No deal. Not now. Not at this stage of the window.
Ally McCoist thinks that resolve has to hold.
McCoist: “It would be a disaster for Palace”
Speaking on talkSPORT Breakfast, McCoist did not dance around the issue.
"I don't see it happening," he said. "I'm not sure he's exactly what Liverpool need. I just think it would be a disaster for Palace if they lost him."
Disaster is a strong word. In this case, it fits.
Sarr has become the face of Palace’s resurgence under Pierre Sage. Since arriving from Marseille in August 2024, the Senegal international has delivered 33 goals and 10 assists, numbers that don’t just decorate a stat sheet but underpin an FA Cup triumph and a Europa Conference League win.
Take that output out of a side already wobbling, and the equation turns ugly.
McCoist also flagged the other side of the deal: what happens at Anfield if Liverpool get their man. He believes Sarr’s arrival would hand Andoni Iraola a “serious headache” when it comes to team selection. And that selection puzzle is about to get even more crowded.
Liverpool are on the brink of completing a blockbuster move for Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain in a deal worth up to £123million. Two high-profile wide forwards through the door in one window would turn Iraola’s front line into a jigsaw of egos, form and price tags.
Stelling backs Sarr to shine at Anfield
Not everyone on the Breakfast show shared McCoist’s doubts about Sarr’s fit at Liverpool.
Co-host Jeff Stelling took the opposite view.
"I think he'd do well at Liverpool," Stelling said. "I didn't expect him to kick on the way he did at Palace, but he really has."
That last line captures the dilemma. Sarr has outgrown expectations in south London. His pace, direct running and end product have transformed him from an intriguing signing out of Ligue 1 into one of the Premier League’s most dangerous wide forwards.
Liverpool see that. So does the player. Palace, right now, simply can’t replace it.
Complicating everything: Sarr has not kicked a ball this season because of a groin injury. On the pitch, he’s absent. Off it, his future dominates the conversation.
Palace’s season already on the ropes
All of this plays out against a bleak early backdrop for Palace.
Two games, two defeats. No points. No momentum.
A 2-0 loss to Everton set the tone, followed by a bruising 4-1 defeat to Manchester City last Friday. Palace are one of four Premier League sides yet to register a single point, and the confidence that flowed through last season’s cup runs has drained quickly.
Pierre Sage now has to prepare his team for a trip to Fulham on Saturday with uncertainty swirling around his star attacker. The plan was to build on last season’s success with Sarr at the heart of it, not to firefight a potential late-window raid from a club of Liverpool’s pulling power.
Palace’s message is that Sarr is going nowhere. The player’s actions suggest he wants out. Liverpool are watching, waiting, calculating.
At some point before the window shuts, someone will blink. The question for Palace is simple: can a club already under pressure survive the fallout if it’s them?
