Senegalese international Ismaïla Sarr has joined Olympique de Marseille from Watford, the Marseille club announced on its website on Monday evening. Passed by Metz then Rennes before joining the club in the north-west suburbs of London, the 25-year-old winger will give depth to OM who did not specify the duration of the contract. According to several media, he would have signed for 5 years and some 13 million euros. “Wisp in sight on Massalia!”, Also tweeted the club, accompanying its commentary with a video in which the player appears wearing the club jersey with the number 23 and exclaiming at the end: “Go OM!”.
After a successful first season in Metz in 2016, the Saint-Louis native signed up with Stade Rennes the following year, where he scored 18 goals and provided 16 assists in two seasons in 77 games. Enough to attract the greed of Watford in 2019. With the Hornets, with whom he recently played in the English Second Division, he will chain 34 goals, 24 assists in 131 games. At 25, Sarr also lifted the Africa Cup of Nations in 2022, already boasting 54 caps with the Teranga Lions.
This is the second major recruit in a few days for the Olympian club which, after signing Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang last Friday, who arrived free from Chelsea, is very active in the summer transfer window. These two players, known for their burst of speed, will allow the new coach Marcelino to gain depth of play and should fit into a probable 4-4-2 dear to the new Spanish coach.
The arrivals of these two offensive recruits should probably seal the question of the future of the Chilean Alexis Sanchez, 34 years old and darling of the Velodrome, but whose contract expired at the end of June and who has still not shown any inclination to extend it. With Ismaïla Sarr, this is the fourth Olympian transfer of this after the arrivals of “Aubame” therefore but also of defender Renan Lodi and midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia, both from Atletico Madrid.
