Ismaila Sarr: French giants Marseille sign Watford forward

Watford forward Ismaila Sarr has completed a move to French side Marseille for an undisclosed fee.

Sarr, who helped Senegal win the Africa Cup of Nations last year, joined Watford for a club record fee of £27m and played for them in the Premier League in 2019-20 and 2021-22.

He scored 10 times in 39 appearances last season for the Championship side.

Olympique de Marseille have officially announced the arrival of winger Ismaïla Sarr (25) from Watford. The Senegalese international has put pen to paper over a five-year deal with Les Phocéens. The 25-year-old was entering his final year of contract with the Championship side. According to L’Équipe, Marseille and Watford struck a €13m deal for the signing of the former Stade Rennais winger. Following his €30m move from Les Rouge et Noir to the Hornets in 2019, Sarr has registered 34 goals and 24 assists in 131 games played in all competitions with Watford.

Sarr underwent a medical this Monday at Marseille’s pre-season training camp at Marienfield, Germany. The 2022 AFCON winner with Senegal is the fourth arrival of Marseille’s remarkable summer transfer window. The Marcelino-led side have purchased Chelsea striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on a free transferey Kondogbas well as Brazilian international left-back Renan Lodi and midfielder Geoffria, both from Atlético Madrid.

So far this summer, Watford have seen their attempts to land a fresh, physical striker alongside the acquisition of Toulouse forward Rhys Healey have proved elusive.

In Valerien Ismael’s known direct style of football, he more often than not has a focal point in attack that the ball can be aimed to from crosses – such as Daryl Dike when he was successful at Barnsley.

The Hornets have tried to go down that route once again by landing known aerial threat Cho Gue-sung from South Korean outfit Jeonbuk Motors, but they lost out on his services to Danish side FC Midtjylland.

That meant that Watford had to look at other targets, with individuals such as experienced Algerian forward Islam Slimani linked to Vicarage Road, but the Hertfordshire side have set their sights on a new face.

According to a report from Simon Jones of the Daily Mail in his Transfer Confidential column, the Hornets are now in negotiations with Aston Villa over a potential deal for Brazilian striker Wesley Moraes, who has fallen out of favour with the Premier League club in recent years.

Watford want to take the 26-year-old on loan for the 2023-24 season and talks are ongoing to try and bring him to the club.

Despite growing up in Brazil, Wesley certainly had an interesting come up in football as his first professional appearance came for Slovakian outfit Trencin in 2015 when he was 18 years of age.

After scoring eight times in 22 appearances in his one and only half-season in Slovakia, Wesley was signed by Club Brugge of Belgium and in his three-and-a-half years at the club, he developed into a promising talent with his final season in 2018-19 seeing him score 17 times in all competitions.

That led to Villa signing him for a fee of £22 million in 2019, but just six months into his time in England having scored six times in 22 appearances, Wesley suffered an ACL rupture in January 2020 which put him on the sidelines for the best part of 15 months.

The Brazilian did not return to the pitch until April 2021, initially in the under-21’s before playing three times in the Premier League before the 2020-21 season was done, but it was the beginning of the end for him at Villa Park as after a cameo outing at the start of the following season, Wesley was loaned back to Club Brugge.

A lack of game-time saw Wesley recalled after a few months and he joined Internacional in his home country in a deal which was supposed to last the entirety of 2022, but again he was recalled early and sent to Levante of Spain for the 2022-23 season.

 

He scored just four times in 43 appearances for the second tier side though – albeit rarely starting matches in La Liga 2 – and he returned to Villa this summer with just one year remaining on his contract.

Would Wesley be a good signing for Watford?

Even though he did not score much for Levante last season, Wesley is the kind of physical presence that Ismael is looking for.

He will occupy defenders and even if he doesn’t score a mountain of goals, he will allow the club’s more creative flair players to have the space and freedom to make opportunities for themselves.

Ismael’s only real alternative at the club is Vakoun Bayo, who flattered to deceive last season following his move from Charleroi, so it’s important that in the next few weeks the Hornets land a player of Wesley’s skill set.

He showed enough in Belgium for Villa to spend £22 million on, and he could perhaps start to rekindle his form in the Championship.