This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict’ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Crystal Palace are weighing up a summer move for Watford's Ismaila Sarr, as per a report from Sky Sports.
The report claims that the Hornets expect the 24-year-old to depart this summer following the club's relegation back to the Championship.
The winger managed five goals and two assists in 22 Premier League appearances last time out, following a productive second tier campaign where he managed 13 goals and 10 assists as Watford won promotion via the automatic promotion zone.
Sarr has appeared just shy of 100 times for the Hertfordshire club since has arrival from Rennes in 2019, proving to be an important source of goals, assists and all around final-third creativity.
Three of our writers here at FLW have shared their thoughts regarding Palace's interest in the Watford attacker...
Declan Harte
Sarr has been an important player for Watford since his arrival and it would be a blow if he left this summer.
But he has shown he is more than capable of competing at the Premier League level.
A move to Crystal Palace would be a great next step in his career, with Patrick Vieira’s side suiting his style of play.
Sarr will fit right in with their quick, transitional attacking football and should link-up well with their other exciting forwards.
The 24-year old will likely be a rotation option at first, but he will still end up earning plenty of playing time if he can transition smoothly to his new surroundings.
Simmey Hannifin-Donaldson
Yes, Ismaila Sarr would be a good signing by Crystal Palace, even if they are not short of attacking talent.
We haven't seen the best of Sarr in the Premier League campaign, but his season was heavily disrupted by injury and then he travelled to play for Senegal as they won the African Cup of Nations.
He has shown he's top-flight quality for Watford before though, namely in the Hornets 3-0 victory over Liverpool in 2019/20, and it looks inevitable he will be sold this summer.
Palace lowballed Watford for Sarr the last time they went down, though, and they were having none of it, so it would certainly be interesting to see what sort of offer Palace would stump up for the Senegalese winger this summer.
George Dagless
This looks a real Palace signing.
Sarr is a powerful, clever attacker and he fits the description in terms of what Palace boss Patrick Vieira wants from his team.
I think Sarr is more than good enough to be playing in the top flight next season despite Watford's relegation and I think Palace might actually be a better option for him than the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United who have been linked recently.
He's a really good player with room to get even better and I would back him to flourish at Palace.