What the stats tell us about Liverpool target Ismaila Sarr and how he compares against Cody Gakpo
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Sarr is more efficient than GakpoStarting off with the obvious, and Sarr has recently shown himself to be a much better goalscorer than Gakpo.The Palace man scored 21 times under Oliver Glasner last season, while Gakpo hit only nine for Liverpool. Focusing purely on the Premier League, though, Sarr scored nine to Gakpo’s seven.Sarr scored his nine goals from 48 shots across the season, with 21 of those on target.READ MORE: Cody Gakpo just gave Liverpool another reason to reject Man City’s £85m approachInterestingly, Gakpo had exactly the same number of shots on target, despite playing almost 600 minutes more than Sarr, and taking 39 more shot attempts.Sarr did take – and score – three penalties, suggesting that he could be another option from the spot as Liverpool aim to find a new permanent taker following Mohamed Salah’s exit.Both players underperformed their xG, Sarr by 1.91 and Gakpo by 1.46, but while this stat goes slightly in the Liverpool player’s favour, Sarr’s record of more goals in significantly fewer minutes and from far less shots, means he is far more efficient in front of goal.Sarr is faster than GakpoOne thing Liverpool really struggled with last season – and have aimed to rectify as a result – is a lack of pace in their attack.Gakpo unfortunately contributed to this, and the Dutchman’s top speed of 32.3 km/h was in the bottom 22% for wingers in the Premier League last season.Photo by George Wood/Getty ImagesSarr looks a lot faster on the eye test, and this is backed up in the numbers as well.
18 playing almost six full games more than his Palace counterpart, this is not the win it may seem.Significantly, Gakpo covered 2.9km in sprints last season, with Sarr clocking 2.7km in much less time on the pitch.Gakpo is a better creator than SarrPerhaps the biggest worry about Sarr potentially joining Liverpool is his lack of goal creation.He may have scored 21 times in 25/26, but he only laid on one assist in 45 appearances. Big chances created was closer, but Gakpo easily still won 10 to three, suggesting that Sarr would have to improve massively in this area if he was to join Liverpool.Gakpo is a much better dribbler and defender than SarrAnother area of worry for Sarr is his dribbling.
The defensive stats are well in Gakpo’s favour as well, with the 27-year-old posting more tackles, interceptions and recoveries than Sarr.Verdict: Liverpool may be better off keeping GakpoWhile Sarr certainly has some positive aspects to his game, where he outperforms Gakpo, there is perhaps not enough here to justify doing this business in the final days of the window.The Crystal Palace attacker would come out as £20-25m cheaper than Gakpo, but that is not enough of a discount. Though the two players do not play in the same position and so are not directly comparable in that respect, selling Gakpo and replacing him in the Liverpool squad with Sarr would make the Reds weaker.There is plenty to like about Sarr, and he showed that at this summer’s World Cup as well, where he bagged four goals, but when factoring in the need to adapt to a much bigger club and the higher expectations as well, it would feel like a big, big gamble from Liverpool to bring him in and let Gakpo go to City.