On Friday, Sport Witness relayed news that Ismaila Sarr hadn’t trained for two days at Crystal Palace. That update came from Turkey amidst Galatasaray interest.
As far as the Turkish slant had it, Sarr hadn’t trained and didn’t want to play against Everton because he wants a transfer to the Turkish club.
That was met with surprise and anger from many Crystal Palace supporters, who didn’t want to believe it. Besides, Pierre Sage had said Sarr would play against Everton and the manager would surely know more than the Turkish media.
Then Saturday came and there was no Sarr to be seen. Reports of an injury may have been more damage limitation than anything else. For a Turkish journalist to get the information regarding not training for two days shows an inside line.
Update on Ismaila Sarr at Crystal Palace
Ali Naci Küçük is the Turkish journalist who broke the initial story.
On Monday, he updates that Ismaila Sarr didn’t train again today and wants a transfer to Galatasaray.
Turkish football has grown hugely over the past couple of years. That’s partly down to tax benefits specifically allowed to help grow the Super Lig.
It’s not just players at the end of their career being snapped up, such as Mohamed Salah. Victor Osimhen, Darwin Nunez, Dusan Vlahovic, Alexander Nübel and Gabriel Sara are in Turkey.
The tax lenience also makes it easier to keep homegrown stars such as Baris Alper Yilmaz. Before the change, the Gala winger would likely have left last summer, but it’s a much more expensive deal to do than it would have once been.
🟡🔴Galatasaray’da forma giymek isteyen Ismaila Sarr, Crystal Palace’ın bugün yaptığı antrenmana da katılmadı!
— Ali Naci Küçük (@AliNaciKucuk) August 24, 2026
Double Sarr effort for €60m
Monday’s print edition of Turkish newspaper Sabah reports Galatasaray want a double Sarr arrival from the Premier League.
A €40m offer was made to Crystal Palace for Ismaila Sarr. Gala are prepared to pay Tottenham €20m for Pape Matar Sarr.
However, it’s worth noting that Galatasaray are not convinced they’ll be able to secure Palace’s Sarr, and have Feyenoord’s Anis Hadj Moussa as an alternative.
