Liverpool are reportedly interested in Watford winger Ismaila Sarr, who has been suggested to Manchester United as a potential Jadon Sancho alternative.
Sarr, 22, has scored five goals and provided five assists in the Premier League this season – including two against Liverpool in the Hornets’ shock 3-0 victory in February.
A £30million signing from Rennes last summer, right winger Sarr has been described by Gary Neville as “a big talent”.
Neville went as far as to say that his former club United should be looking at Sarr as a cut-price alternative to Borussia Dortmund star Sancho, who has also been linked with Liverpool but could cost in excess of £100million.
Jurgen Klopp’s Reds are said to be monitoring Sarr, although any potential transfer could be scuppered by enmity between Watford and the Anfield club.
That’s according to Liverpool.com, which says the bad feeling dates back to 2016, when the Reds tried to sign Polish international Piotr Zielinski from Udinese.
The Italian club is owned by the Pozzo family – who also own Watford – with Giampolo Pozzo the chairman of Udinese and his son, Gino, overseeing matters at Vicarage Road.
Liverpool had tracked Zielinski under previous manager Brendan Rodgers, as the midfielder shone during a two-year loan spell at Empoli. He remained a target when Klopp took over at Anfield, with the German meeting him for talks.
Zielinski, perhaps unwisely, was later pictured in a Liverpool shirt, something which infuriated his chairman at Udinese, Giampolo Pozzo.
The latter was determined that his player should not end up at Anfield and accepted an identical offer from Napoli, whom Zielinski joined in August 2016.
Perhaps some of the Pozzos’ stubbornness to deal with Liverpool stems from what happened three months prior to Zielinski’s transfer when Jerome Sinclair departed Anfield for Gino Pozzo’s Watford.
The winger, who was signed from West Bromwich Albion’s academy when he was 14 in the summer of 2011, agreed to join Watford in May 2016 after his contract at Liverpool expired.
Because Birmingham-born Sinclair was under the age of 24, Liverpool were due a developmental fee and the two clubs settled on a £4m deal.
The Reds, at the time, were reportedly not happy with the way Watford went about their business while trying to secure Sinclair, who has not impressed with the Hornets, taking in four loan spells during his time there.
source:- allfootballapp
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