Ismaïla Sarr agent says African players are treated like a 'commodity'

September 03, 2026 • 0 • min read

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Ismaïla Sarr agent says African players are treated like a 'commodity'

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Ismaïla Sarr's agent says African players deserve greater respect over their careers.
Liverpool's move for Sarr was rejected by Crystal Palace last week.
Chelsea's £47m deal for Lamine Camara collapsed after Monaco changed course.

Ismaïla Sarr's agent has criticised the way some African footballers are treated in the transfer market, saying they can be viewed as a "commodity" rather than players with a voice in decisions about their careers.

Diomansy Kamara made the comments after two high-profile Senegalese transfers collapsed in the final stages of the window.

Crystal Palace rejected Liverpool's approach for Sarr, whilst Lamine Camara's proposed £47 million move from AS Monaco to Chelsea fell apart on deadline day.

Why Liverpool did not sign Ismaïla Sarr

Liverpool were understood to have made an approach for Sarr last week, but Palace rejected the bid and insisted that their leading scorer from last season was not available.

The 28-year-old Senegal forward subsequently missed Palace's first two matches against Everton and Manchester City after manager Pierre Sage said he had suffered an injury.

Sarr then deleted references to Palace from his social media accounts. He is thought to have been disappointed by the club's decision to reject Liverpool's interest.

Liverpool ultimately chose not to return with another offer on deadline day. The club instead decided to retain Cody Gakpo, who had attracted interest from City.

Lamine Camara's £47m Chelsea move collapses

Sarr's Senegal international team-mate Camara was involved in another dramatic deadline-day saga.

The midfielder appeared set to join Chelsea from Monaco in a deal worth around £47 million, but Monaco eventually pulled out after previously reaching a written agreement at club level.

Monaco later explained that their position changed because Everton indicated that their proposed £40 million move for Folarin Balogun was back on.

The French club had been uncertain over Balogun's transfer because of concerns surrounding his medical. Once Everton confirmed they were prepared to proceed, Monaco decided they could not allow Camara to leave.

Monaco defend their decision

Monaco sporting director Thiago Scuro defended the club's actions and rejected the suggestion that the Ligue 1 side had behaved improperly.

He said Everton confirmed at around 10pm local time that there was no longer an issue with the Balogun deal and that the club was ready to sign the relevant paperwork.

As soon as we got the information, yes, we did come back to Chelsea and told [them], "OK, we have our deal there. There is no deal on Lamine."

Because it's also fair to do this. It's also part of the game.

Scuro also objected to Monaco being portrayed as the villain of the situation.

It's unfair to portray Monaco as "the bad guys in the room."

Everybody is very fair and nice in the football industry, just Monaco is not. Too much.

Everton and the Balogun complication

The chain of events was further complicated by Balogun's decision over a potential move to Everton.

Everton were left with only one recognised striker after the United States forward changed his mind about moving to Merseyside.

Scuro suggested that Balogun was unhappy with the way Everton had handled the medical process, adding another layer of uncertainty to an already chaotic deadline day.

Those developments ultimately had consequences for Camara, as Monaco's position changed once Everton indicated they were ready to proceed with Balogun's transfer.

The result was an extraordinary sequence of events: a Chelsea transfer collapsed, Monaco kept Camara, Everton were left short of attacking options and Sarr remained at Palace despite Liverpool's interest.

Kamara questions the power clubs have over players

Kamara, a former Senegal international who earned 50 caps and played for Portsmouth, West Bromwich Albion and Fulham, believes the two cases raise wider questions about the power players have over decisions affecting their futures.

The cases of Ismaïla Sarr and Lamine Camara must all interrogate us.

We have to get out of this logic where the African player can sometimes give the feeling that he is just a commodity: you buy it, you set its price, you negotiate its future and, too often, your will seems to go to the background.

Our African players deserve respect. The respect of their work. The respect of their career. Respecting their ambitions. The respect of their voices.

For Kamara, the issue is not simply whether clubs have the right to negotiate transfers. It is whether players are being properly heard when those negotiations directly affect their careers.

The player must be able to be heard and respected in the decisions that determine his future.

Let's never forget what's important: behind every success, it's the players who write history first.

The question of player power

The modern transfer market is built around enormous sums of money, contractual obligations and clubs protecting their sporting interests.

Yet players remain the people whose careers are directly affected by those decisions.

That is the central issue raised by Kamara.

His criticism does not dispute that clubs have contractual rights. Instead, it challenges whether those rights should completely overshadow the player's ambitions when a major transfer opportunity emerges.

The Sarr and Camara cases have therefore provided another reminder that behind every transfer fee is a footballer whose career can be significantly altered by decisions made in boardrooms and during frantic deadline-day negotiations.