On August 7th, TuttoMercatoWeb reported Watford are ‘one step away’ from signing Ismaïla Sarr.
Today’s edition of L’Equipe reports Crystal Palace have entered the race for the Rennes player. They have been fighting with the Hornets for the past two days.
The Eagles’ offer is €30m without bonuses, which is inferior to the one that was proposed by Watford. However, the approach from Roy Hodgson’s side has caused doubts among a few parties involved in the deal.
L’Equipe state Palace have decided to let Wilfried Zaha leave and are banking on an offer from Everton. Zaha’s potential sale would allow them to propose a revised offer for Sarr.
Watford, on the other hand, have identified PSV Eindhoven’s Steven Bergwijn as an alternative to Sarr.
This, coupled with possibility of receiving a better offer from the Eagles, has made Rennes take Crystal Palace’s approach for Sarr ‘seriously’.
The report explains the Pozzo family would favour signing Sarr over Bergwijn, but are unwilling to overpay for the former. 
With just hours left before the window shuts, it remains to be seen who will be able to win the battle for Sarr.
