Agent criticizes treatment of African stars after Sarr's Liverpool move fails

Ismaïla Sarr’s deadline day ended with a phone call and a full stop. No move, no medical, no walk through the Anfield tunnel he has long imagined.

Crystal Palace simply said no.

Liverpool had circled the Senegal winger as the late answer to a glaring hole on Andoni Iraola’s right flank, but when the clock ticked into the final hours of the window, Palace shut the door – and bolted it.

Liverpool’s winger plan unravels

The summer had started with a clear plan. Victor Munoz came in early, a neat, sensible piece of business. Then Liverpool went big. Very big.

Bradley Barcola arrived from Paris Saint-Germain in a staggering £123million deal, a statement signing to supercharge Iraola’s attack from the left. The club then went looking for balance on the opposite side.

Ibrahim Mbaye, another PSG product, was high on the list. Liverpool walked away, deciding the numbers were too heavy. Aston Villa didn’t. They paid €55m (£47m) and took him to Birmingham instead.

So the search moved on.

Attention turned to two names: Palace’s Sarr and Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh. Liverpool tested Palace’s resolve with a £40m offer. Rejected. Reports then emerged – including from Fabrizio Romano – of a £50m bid for Sarr. Those figures have been disputed in some quarters, but the outcome was crystal clear.

Palace refused to sell. Not at £40m. Not at £50m. Not on deadline day.

Sarr’s dream move to Anfield died in those final hours, with the London club telling Liverpool there would be no deal, even if the price climbed beyond £50m.

Brighton were no easier to deal with. Liverpool had £50m and £60m bids for Minteh turned down as the Seagulls held out for around £80m. Liverpool considered going again, then stepped away. The number was simply too high.

Rumours of a late move for Stuttgart’s Jamie Leweling flickered briefly, then faded. No right winger arrived.

Kamara: “Our African players deserve respect”

For Diomansy Kamara, the man representing Sarr, the window closed with anger rather than relief. Not only had Sarr’s move collapsed, but another of his clients, Lamine Camara, saw a £47m switch from Monaco to Chelsea scrapped at the last minute.

Kamara took his frustration public.

“The cases of Ismaïla Sarr and Lamine Camara must all interrogate us,” he wrote on social media, using the two failed transfers as a wider indictment of how African players are treated in the market.

“We have to get out of this logic where the African player can sometimes give the feeling that he is just a commodity: you buy it, you set its price, you negotiate its future and, too often, your will seems to go to the background.

“Our African players deserve respect. The respect of their work. The respect of their career. Respecting their ambitions. The respect of their voices.

“A transfer shouldn’t just be a matter of two clubs and numbers. Behind every contract, there’s a man, a career, dreams and life choices.

“The fact that clubs can sometimes have the final word is a reality of professional football. But one question remains: what about the career and the will of the player? The player must be able to be heard and respected in the decisions that determine his future.

“Let’s never forget what’s important: behind every success, it’s the players who write history first.”

Kamara’s words cut through the usual deadline-day noise. This was not a complaint about a fee or a clause. It was a challenge to the system, sharpened by the image of two African internationals left in limbo while clubs traded numbers over their heads.

Carragher left “scratching his head”

While Kamara railed against the treatment of his clients, another voice questioned Liverpool’s strategy from a different angle.

Jamie Carragher looked at the final squad list and saw imbalance.

“I’m disappointed. I’m not quite sure what we’re going to do on that right wing right now,” he said, summing up the unease among many Liverpool supporters. “It doesn’t look a balanced squad. Liverpool are short in full-back areas and probably a midfield player as well.

“I sit there scratching my head and thinking, ‘We’ve got four left wingers; we haven’t got one right winger.’ Something like that just doesn’t feel right to me.

“Liverpool won the league just over a year ago. We spent an awful lot of money since then and I don’t think anybody inside Liverpool or Liverpool supporters really believe we can win the league this season, or the manager’s got the tools to go and win the league this season, and that just doesn’t feel right.”

That is the backdrop now. A squad heavy on left-sided firepower, light on natural width on the right, and a transfer window that leaves as many questions as it answered.

For Sarr, the season starts where the last one ended – still at Selhurst Park, still a key man for Palace, but with the knowledge that a £50m door to Anfield was slammed shut. For Kamara, the fight is no longer just about one move. It is about who really gets to decide the next chapter of African footballers’ careers.