Aston Villa target Ismaïla Sarr has shown he is an “unbelievable talent when focused”, with the Watford and Senegal winger attracting Premier League interest ahead of the January transfer window, according to The Guardian journalist Ed Aarons.
The 24-year-old is currently part of Aliou Cissé’s Lions of Teranga squad, preparing to take on England in this evening's last 16 World Cup clash.
Aston Villa transfer news – Ismaïla Sarr
It looked for all of the world in the summer that Sarr would be making the switch from Vicarage Road to Villa Park, with a £25m transfer fee agreed between both clubs, as per the Daily Mail.
But as soon as the deal looked finalised, the move broke down with the West Midlands club unable to agree on personal terms with the Hornets star (via the Daily Mail).
However, BirminghamLive journalist Ashley Preece has suggested that a move for the 49-time Senegal international could be revived in the January window, with the club’s sporting director Johan Lange a huge fan of the winger and likely to ask new head coach Unai Emery if he's interested in signing the Watford man.
And Aarons is amazed that nobody else has attempted to lure Sarr back to the Premier League following the collapse of the wide-man’s potential move to Villa.
What has Aarons said about Sarr and Villa?
Aarons told GIVEMESPORT: “I can't believe that no one's tried to get him back [to the Premier League], but there's probably a reason that we don't know that hasn’t been made public.
“It could be that the fee or something like that is just too much because he's clearly an unbelievable talent when focused.
“Last season wasn't a great one for him, but I think there were other reasons for that around the club having quite a few different managers and it not going very well.”
What next for Sarr?
Whilst a move to the Premier League will be on the agenda for a player of Sarr’s talent, his immediate focus will turn to Senegal’s huge last-16 World Cup clash with England tonight.
The Saint-Louis-born wide man has already grabbed a goal in Qatar, scoring a crucial penalty in the reigning AFCON champions’ 2-1 final group stage victory over Ecuador on Tuesday.
Sarr’s Sofascore stats show that the winger is enjoying a fine tournament thus far, having achieved an average rating of 7.27 for his performances in the World Cup so far, implying that he could be quite an important figure for the African side if they are to pull off a famous upset on Sunday.
If the Watford star is to improve on an already impressive showing at this World Cup against Gareth Southgate’s side, then Aston Villa may want to start putting the frameworks of a deal in place to get ahead of the queue of many potential suitors in January.