De Boer questions Liverpool's Sakho valuation

Crystal Palace manager Frank de Boer says the £30m fee Liverpool want for Mamadou Sakho is "too expensive".

France centre-back Sakho is out of favour at Anfield after being sent home by manager Jurgen Klopp for a breach of discipline on their 2016 pre-season tour of the USA.

The 27-year-old spent the second half of last season on loan at Palace, making eight appearances and winning a nomination for the Eagles' player of the year award.

"Everybody knows he had a major impact last season and, when he's available for us, I think that is a quality injection for the club," de Boer said.

"It is not like this now because he is much too expensive for the club."

Sakho has not played for the Reds since April 2016, when he was suspended after failing a drugs test, although he was later cleared of all charges.

West Brom are also keen on signing Sakho, but the former Paris Saint-Germain defender is thought to favour a move to Palace.

Palace chairman Steve Parish, who has spent just £7.9m this summer on the Dutch defender Jairo Riedewald from Ajax, has questioned how the major clubs have managed to splash so much cash this summer without falling foul of Uefa Financial Fair Play rules.

Manchester City have spent almost £220m on goalkeeper Ederson Moraes, defenders Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo and midfielders Bernardo Silva and Douglas this summer, while bringing in just £67m from player sales.

"What's returned to football are the big-money owners, the win-at-all-costs owners, almost bottomless pockets," he said. 

"I'd love to see how it all fits with financial fair play, by the way, because I just can’t see how half of this fits with that because the revenue of the clubs hasn’t grown this year.

"I'm not accusing people of anything. I just don't understand the numbers for some of the clubs that they're spending, that are being quoted and how you can make that fit over a period with financial fair play."

Liverpool's Champions League play-off second leg against Hoffenheim at Anfield is live on BT Sport 2 on Wednesday, 23 August [kick-off 7.45pm]

Photo Getty Images/ Ben Stanshill

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