Ismaïla Sarr joined Watford last summer from French side Stade Rennais.
He spent two seasons at the Ligue 1 club after starting his senior career at Metz just a year before.
European giant FC Barcelona even attempted to sign the Senegalese when they were still playing for Metz.
However, Sarr chose Rennes over FC Barcelona because of the clubs playing time guarantee, a decision that proved correct for his career development.
His choice was correct.
Sarr’s brilliant performance for Rennes helped him to secure a place in Senegal’s 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The fairytale doesn’t stop there.
Last year, Sarr helped Senegal to reach their second-ever African Cup final in the nation’s history.
That was enough to convince Watford to sign him last August.
Without further ado, this tactical analysis will inform you about his role and impact for the Hornets.
Ismaïla Sarr Style Of Play
Ismaïla Sarr is a versatile winger who can play on both flanks.
At Rennes, he played 20 games on the left flank, making three goals and six assists in two seasons.
However, his best position seems to be in the opposite wide area.
Looking at the stats, he spent 33 games for Rennes as a right-winger.
From those games, he’s managed to score eight times and assisted seven.
Sarr’s versatility doesn’t stop there.
The French club even played him as a centre-forward for a couple of times.
During his time at Rennes, the Senegalese played at least 18 matches as a target man across two seasons.
He even contributed seven goals when playing centrally.
A pretty respectable number, to say the least.
Moving to Watford, Sarr is moved permanently to the right flank.
The decision is understandable because the Hornets’ opposite wide area is flooded with more prominent names like Gerard Deulofeu and Roberto Pereyra.
So far, it’s safe to say that Sarr is comfortable playing as a right-winger week in and week out.
Per the statistics, the 22-year-old starts his Premier League career with five goals and four assists in just 1,226 minutes of playing time.
Such a feat proves Ismaïla Sarrs style of play suits Watford’s tactics.
Ismaïla Sarr Attacking Position
This part of the scouting report will examine Ismaïla Sarr’s attacking position in the Hornets’ tactics.
Watford prefers to use a direct approach to build their attacks.
If we look at the statistics, the particular style suits their target man, Troy Deeney, very well.
So far, Deeney has managed to win 7.6 aerial duels per game; joint-highest in the league.
The long balls would be provided to the talisman before being laid off by one of his attacking comrades.
Mainly, Ismaïla Sarr doesn’t participate in the direct approach.
Ismaïla Sarr would stay wide, hugging the touchline, and provide the width for his team.
