Ismaila Sarr’s move to Aston Villa has collapsed, with a host of stumbling blocks leading to Aston Villa withdrawing from negotiations.
An agreement was reached with Watford on Saturday for a fee worth more than £25m with add-ons. Sarr was due to undergo a medical in Birmingham on Monday.
But problems emerged when the two sides began to discuss the details of the deal, which included the possibility of Cameron Archer or Kortney Hause joining Watford on loan.
Sky Sports News has been told that Steven Gerrard and Villa’s bosses had growing reservations over the deal, and have walked away.
Sarr was not in the Watford squad for Saturday’s match at Preston North End, though Watford manager Rob Edwards said he was left out because of injury.
The 24-year-old Senegal international has scored 25 goals in 95 appearances since joining Watford from Rennes in 2019, with five of those goals coming in the Premier League last season.
Watford are second in the Sky Bet Championship table but had their attacking options depleted when striker Emmanuel Dennis joined Nottingham Forest last week. The Nigerian scored 10 goals for the Hornets in the top-flight last season but could not help to keep them up.
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We take a look back at all Ismaila Sarr’s Premier League goals for Watford.
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