Ismaila Sarr will not demand a move away from Watford this month despite reported interest from Premier League rivals Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur, as reported by the Watford Observer.
It is a story that has gone down in footballing folklore.
After a buck-toothed 17-year-old left John O’Shea gasping for breath during a pre-season clash between Manchester United and Sporting Lisbon in 2003, all the talk on the journey home centred around one man: Cristiano Ronaldo.
“Me, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt were standing there going ‘this kid’s unbelievable, we’ve got to sign him’,” United legend Rio Ferdinand would later recall in conversation with talkSPORT.
“We got on the coach and then (the club’s bosses) said they were doing a deal to sign Ronaldo now.”
As Sarr ran Aston Villa ragged during Saturday’s opening-day 3-2 defeat at Vicarage Road, Dean Smith must have been tempted to take a leaf out of Sir Alex Ferguson’s book.
Could Aston Villa sign Ismaila Sarr after he destroyed Smith’s defence?
Homme du Match reported a fortnight ago that Villa were planning a £28 million bid for a ‘rapid‘ winger who scored one and set up another this weekend, while making the usually reliable Matt Targett look like he had swapped his boots for lead weights.
But while a teenage Ronaldo jumped at the chance to join one of the biggest clubs in European football 18 years ago, Sarr will not walk out on Watford with just two weeks of the transfer window remaining.
EuroSport reported last week that Tottenham had also expressed an interest in the former Rennes winger; a £50 million speed-machine who looks tailor-made for the counter-attacking style that served Spurs so well during Sunday’s dramatic 1-0 victory over Manchester City.
But, according to the Observer, Sarr has no plans to ‘do a Harry Kane’ between now and the end of August.
He is focused on Watford and Watford only and, if that opening day performance against Aston Villa is anything to go by, Sarr could be the difference between Premier League survival and an immediate return to the Championship.
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