Ismaila Sarr's Future at Crystal Palace Amid Injury Concerns

Pierre Sage expects Ismaila Sarr to stay at Crystal Palace despite Liverpool’s move for the winger and mounting interest from abroad, insisting the Senegal international is currently battling injury rather than agitating for a transfer.

Sarr, 28, sat out Palace’s Premier League opener against Everton and will again be missing when Manchester City visit Selhurst Park on Friday night. Galatasaray have already seen two bids rejected, while Liverpool have made an approach, but Sage was clear: a departure is far from straightforward.

“For the moment, yeah,” he said when asked if he expects Sarr to remain a Palace player. “Because when you have three years on the contract, it is not easy to leave.”

The noise around Sarr has grown in his absence, with suggestions he is refusing to train to try to force a move. Sage pushed back firmly. The winger, he stressed, is hurt.

“Ismaila Sarr is injured. He is in pain with his groin – that’s why you didn’t see him with us today,” the Palace boss explained. “He is in individual training because he is really in pain with his groin. But we’ll prepare him, he needs time.

“I thought it would be quicker, but I am not a doctor. That is why I wait for him and we prepare for him to come back with us. No chance he plays against City.”

The new manager has spoken repeatedly with Sarr this week, aware of the strain a high-profile transfer chase can put on a player who is still tied to a long contract and rooted in a dressing room.

“I understand that for everybody to have this kind of contact is difficult, because you hesitate a lot,” Sage said. “But for the moment, he is with us. He is under contract.

“He is injured and maybe you can make a link between his injury and the situation. But for me, he is honest and I have no problem with that. I spoke with him this morning about that, yesterday about that, too. And we just want him on the pitch.”

The speculation will not stop while the window remains open. Agents talk, families worry, social media churns. Inside the club, it simply feels like disruption.

“All the rest is for the other people,” Sage continued. “Football is like this now, we know when it is the transfer window that there is a lot of noise, a lot of stuff for the player.

“Maybe some of them are not really comfortable with this situation – and their agent, too, their family. That’s why it is not really a good period when you are inside in a club, but you know when it is finished we will only be concerned with our performances. We just have to wait for that.”

The lure of Liverpool, of course, changes the temperature around any player. Sage did not pretend otherwise.

“It’s always difficult for a player when your name is associated with a club like Liverpool,” he admitted.

For now, though, Palace’s stance is simple: Sarr is injured, Sarr is under contract, and Sarr is being treated as part of Sage’s squad until something concrete changes.

“For the moment, the most important thing is to understand the player is not able to play and is in treatment,” Sage said, drawing a firm line under the issue from his side. “And what happens with his potential future is really far from me.”