Ismaïla Sarr

Ismaïla Sarr (born 25 February 1998) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a winger for Championship club Watford and the Senegal national team.

Ismaïla Sarr
Personal information
Full name Ismaïla Sarr[1]
Date of birth (1998-02-25) 25 February 1998
Place of birth Saint-Louis, Senegal
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[2]
Position(s) Winger
Club information
Current team
 Watford
Number 23
Youth career
–2016 Génération Foot
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2017 Metz 31 (5)
2017–2019 Rennes 59 (13)
2019– Watford 51 (10)
National team‡
2015 Senegal U23 3 (0)
2016– Senegal 32 (5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:22, 1 February 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23:42, 15 November 2020 (UTC)

Club career

Early career

Born in Saint-Louis, Senegal, Sarr started his football career with Senegalese football club Génération Foot.[3]

Metz

On 13 July 2016, Sarr signed his first professional contract with FC Metz for five years.[4] He made his league debut on 13 August 2016 against Lille OSC at Stade Saint-Symphorien, the FC Metz's home ground, which Metz won by 3–2. In this match, he played 20 minutes, after he was substituted for Florent Mollet.[5]

Stade Rennais

On 26 July 2017, Sarr signed a four-year contract with Ligue 1 side Rennes. The transfer fee paid to Metz was reported as €17 or 20 million, depending on the source.[6][7] He picked the transfer to Rennes over a move to FC Barcelona.[8]

On 13 December 2018, Sarr scored twice in the second half (including a penalty), as Rennes clinched their place in the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League knockout phase with a (Group K, Matchday 6) 2–0 home win over FC Astana.[9]

Watford

On 8 August 2019, Sarr joined Premier League club Watford on a five-year contract. The transfer fee paid to Rennes was a club record for Watford[10] and reported as "in the region of £30 million.[11] He scored his first goal for Watford in an EFL Cup tie against Coventry City on 27 August 2019.[12]

On 29 February 2020, Sarr picked up two goals and an assist in Watford's 3–0 home victory over Liverpool, handing Liverpool their first defeat of the 2019–20 season and ending the club's 44-match unbeaten league run.[13]

International career

Sarr has represented his country at Senegal national under-23 football team. In 2015, he played in 2015 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations.[14] At that time, his age was only 17. He contributed that Senegal finished the competition in a fourth place, playing three games.

He played for the first time with Senegal national football team for a match against Namibia in September 2016 in Dakar (2–0) for 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification, for which Senegal had already qualified. As a symbol, he came into play in the 67th minute in place of the former resident of Génération Foot and Metz, Sadio Mané.[15] On 8 January 2017, Sarr scored his first international goal in a friendly match against Libya national football team in Stade Municipal de Kintélé, Brazzaville.

In May 2018, he was named in Senegal's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[16]

In 2019, Sarr was part of the Senegal squad that reached the final of the Africa Cup of Nations, for only the second time in the nation's history.[17] He played the full 90 minutes of the final on 19 July 2019, as they lost 0–1 to Algeria.[18]

In November 2019, he suffered an ankle injury whilst on international duty.[19]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 1 February 2021.[20]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup[lower-alpha 1] League Cup[lower-alpha 2] Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Metz 2016–17 Ligue 1 3150020——335
Rennes 2017–18 Ligue 1 2451020——275
2018–19 35851109[lower-alpha 3]4—5013
Total 5913613094—7718
Watford 2019–20 Premier League 2850021——306
2020–21 Championship 2351000——245
Total 51101021——5411
Career total 139277171940016233
  1. Includes Coupe de France, FA Cup
  2. Includes Coupe de la Ligue, EFL Cup
  3. Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League

International
As of match played 15 November 2020.[21]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Senegal 201610
201792
2018101
201991
202031
Total325

International goals
Scores and results list Senegal's goal tally first.[21]
NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.8 January 2017Stade Municipal de Kintélé, Brazzaville, Congo Libya2–12–1Friendly
2.5 September 2017Stade du 4 Août, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Burkina Faso1–12–22018 FIFA World Cup qualification
3.8 June 2018Stadion Gradski vrt, Osijek, Croatia Croatia1–01–2Friendly
4.1 July 201930 June Stadium, Cairo, Egypt Kenya1–03–02019 Africa Cup of Nations
5.9 October 2020Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, Rabat, Morocco Morocco1–31–3Friendly

Honours

Club

Rennes

Individual

References
  1. "2018 FIFA World Cup Russia – List of Players" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  2. "Ismaila SARR". Stade Rennais. 30 July 2017.
  3. "Football : Ismaïla Sarr". footballdatebase.eu. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  4. "Ismaïla Sarr s'engage pour 5 ans !" [Ismaïla Sarr has signed for five seasons.] (in French). fcmetz.com. 13 July 2016.
  5. "Metz vs. Lille - 13 August 2016 - Soccerway". us.soccerway.com. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  6. "Transferts : Ismaïla Sarr s'engage officiellement avec Rennes". L'Équipe (in French). 26 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  7. Okeleji, Oluwashina (27 July 2017). "Senegal's Ismaila Sarr 'rejects Barcelona' for Rennes move". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  8. "Senegal's Ismaila Sarr 'rejects Barcelona' for Rennes move". BBC Sport. 27 July 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  9. "Rennes beat Astana to go through, Bordeaux out". www.ligue1.com. 13 December 2018.
  10. Sansom, Dan (8 August 2019). "Watford sign Rennes winger Ismaila Sarr for club-record fee". Sky Sports. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  11. Gray, Ryan (8 August 2019). "Watford have announced the signing of Ismaila Sarr from Rennes". Watford Observer. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  12. "Watford 3-0 Coventry". BBC. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  13. Mott, Ryan. "Watford beat Liverpool to end 27-match unbeaten run". OneFootball. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  14. "CAF - Competitions - U-23 Africa Cup of Nations - Team Details - Player Details - Ismaïla Sarr". cafonline.com. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  15. "Sénégal : première convocation pour le jeune attaquant de Metz Ismaïla Sarr". lequipe.fr. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  16. Crawford, Stephen (4 June 2018). "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists". Goal. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  17. "Senegal, Algeria set for rematch in Afcon final". eNCA. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  18. "Algeria claim second Afcon title after Bounedjah's lucky strike sinks Senegal". theguardian.com. Guardian News & Media Limited. 19 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  19. "2021 Africa Cup of Nations: Senegal await Ismaila Sarr injury verdict". 16 November 2019 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  20. Ismaïla Sarr at Soccerway
  21. "Sarr, Ismaïla". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  22. "Rennes 2 PSG 2 (6-5 on penalties)". BBC Sport. 29 April 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  23. "Top Ten Goals of the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). 30 May 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
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