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We asked for your views on the news that Crystal Palace are set to sign Ismaila Sarr from Marseille. Here are some of your comments: Paul: A bit of a bargain, especially considering that Watford wanted the best part of £35m only two years ago. Simon: Squad depth is important and while Olise has gone, we will now have Kamada and Sarr to play in that position. With Franca, Rak Sakyi and even Jordan Ayew, we are not short of options. Time will tell if he can improve us. I hope we won't lose Rak Sakyi with his arrival. We lost Jake O'Brien due to not giving him a chance, let's not forget. Kevin: Four years too late. Not sure he’s got the quality and is able to produce it consistently that we will demand now. But I hope I’m wrong. George: We're finally making exciting signings which aren't just aimed at keeping us being an average club who finish mid-table every season. Olly has a vision and I'm fully backing it it. Allan: I thought that he looked to be a talented player at Watford, as Man Utd fans will testify. However, the Watford fans felt that he was lazy. Let's hope that Glasner can light his enthusiasm. Gary: Whoever we signed in place of Olise was going to be a downgrade. I liked Sarr at Watford but he was inconsistent. If he plays half as good as Olise then I suppose we have to be happy. It may prove to be a bargain at around £11m. With Ismaila Sarr set to join the club on a five-year deal from Marseille for a fee in the region of £12. 5m, we would like to hear your views on the signing. How do you feel about him joining Palace fans? Let us know here, external Pat Nevin Former footballer and presenter Players like Manchester United’s Rasmus Hojlund are already suffering from hamstring injuries two weeks before the season even starts - and they say the modern preparation regimes are better, safer and more scientific! They probably are better. At least the players do not have to go through some of the borderline sadistic routines that previous generations did. Back then, after a decent length of summer break, pre-season meant working incredibly hard over a short period of time to get yourself back in top condition fast. Sprinting up and down gigantic sand dunes against the clock until many players were physically sick was de rigueur, alongside other road runs and track work. Here is the weird part: I used to look forward to that, the way a class swot looks forward to exams. Being smaller, lighter and a committed long-distance runner all my young life, even before I became a pro footballer, it was, if not exactly a piece of cake, then certainly much easier for me than most of the rest of the team. I have asked many modern managers what they would prefer to do in a perfect world during their pre-season. The most common answer is "just about anything other than what we are forced to do now! " Sign up to the Football Extra Newsletter here Aston Villa are interested in 27-year-old Crystal Palace and French striker Jean-Philippe Mateta. (Express), external Want more transfer news? Read Wednesday's full gossip column Pat Nevin Former footballer and presenter I browsed the BBC website today, scanning for the biggest story in the summer transfer window, but I kept on coming back to the same one. The mighty Premier League has been dominant for years in terms of tempting players with its world wide appeal, tactical style, packed grounds and, oh alright yes, its financial pulling power. This time however, the transfer ‘Ins and Outs’ list still has me staring longingly at the departure of Michael Olise from Crystal Palace to Bayern Munich for an alleged £50m. Could no English club afford him? Surely they could all see that he is a world class player in the making, as he has been playing against them every week and regularly making top class defenders look as nimble and balanced as back four of orcs from Middle Earth. It could be just that Michael fancied Bayern and who would blame him for that? Palace certainly would prefer not to sell him to a direct rival, I get that too. There is the now ever-rumbling question that the financial rules in England appear to be hampering those who want to improve their squads. I reckon Olise would have been perfectly at home at most top clubs in England. Then again maybe I am just ranting. He has been a joy to watch in the Premier League, among the most naturally talented players on the ball in the league. In short I am going to miss him and so will the Premier League. I just hope Eberechi Eze isn’t similarly tempted. Sign up to the Football Extra Newsletter here Pat Nevin, former Chelsea, Everton and Scotland winger writing in his Football Extra newsletter: The pre-season friendlies are in full swing and let's be straight about this, the players generally hate these games, whatever they say. They clearly haven't had enough rest in the summer, it is a grind getting your body back into peak shape, especially if the accumulated injuries from last season haven’t been allowed to fully recover. The games themselves are weird affairs, where you would like to win but that is nowhere near the most important thing. Fitness, integrating new players, possibly a new manager and sometimes a new system are each more important. You also know full well that it is a hotch-potch of a team selection to give players minutes. The fans, mass media and social media will read far too much into every game and every performance. From within the team itself, there are different motivations. A young or new player being given his first chance will be racing about like an overexcited spaniel. Other experienced players will be easing themselves back into it, the primary concern in their minds is to be fit and healthy come the first weekend of the Premier League season. ‌Deep down they don't worry if they get thumped by Celtic or DC United on their US tours, nobody at Chelsea or Aston Villa will remember or care about these results in two weeks' time. ‌Unless of course you are a DC or indeed Celtic fan. The Celts just beat Chelsea and Man City. Now that is impressive pre-season form or is that just Scottish bias. Sign up to the Football Extra Newsletter here Crystal Palace and Ghana forward Jordan Ayew, 32, is wanted by Leicester City. (Sun), external Want more transfer stories? Read Tuesday's full gossip column David Lockwood BBC Sport Editorial Sustainability Lead Los Angeles or Chesterfield? San Diego or Salford? The pre-season destinations of 20 Premier League clubs may be varied, but the issue remains the same - the impact of so many flights. Half (10) of the clubs have flown to the United States for friendlies; three have travelled to the Far East and the rest are in Europe and the UK. Manchester United's pre-season schedule see them flying almost 13, 000 miles playing fixtures in Norway, Scotland, and across the US. Chelsea and Tottenham are also expected to fly in excess of 12, 000 miles. In contrast, Everton will fly the least, with just one fixture outside the UK in the Republic of Ireland. Spurs and Newcastle also played an exhibition fixture in May - three days after the season finished - for which they both flew to Melbourne, Australia, a game Alan Shearer described as “madness”. Add in those air miles and both teams will have travelled in excess of 30, 000 air miles in the close-season, equivalent to more than once around the globe, to play in non-competitive matches. Newcastle and Spurs both have a target to be Net Zero by 2030, while Manchester United and Chelsea are in process of establishing an emissions reduction plan. Net Zero requires the reduction and removal of all 'non-essential emissions' - so are these games essential? Wycombe's David Wheeler is a leading sustainability campaigner in football and told BBC Sport: "These games are only necessary in the sense that the clubs want to make more money and grow their fan base". He added: "The vast majority of players don't want to be away from their families, they don't want to be travelling around the world after a full slog of a season. They're overworked and injuries have gone through the roof, so there is a synergy between player welfare and planetary welfare. " An estimated travelling group of 30 flying 12, 864 air miles business class generates around 200 tonnes of CO2 - the equivalent of 500, 000 miles driven by an average petrol car, or the entire annual emissions for a year of 16 people in the UK. Tottenham said it is "committed to minimising its environmental impact" in all its operations, "which will take time and effort". The club says it "ensures" all teams travel "as sustainably as possible throughout the season". It "measures, manages and reports on travel emissions" and will offsets "where possible. " Read more about the Premier League's pre-season air miles here Including the May trip to Australia for Newcastle and Tottenham more than doubles those two clubs' total flights in the close-season and puts them way above the rest of the Premier League for environmental impact We asked for your views on Crystal Palace's 6-3 win against Crawley. Here are some of your comments: Rich: Nice work out, very fast start and with eight players missing the first XI looked like a decent Glasner side, pressing well. Second half shows concerns that Olise's money needs to spent on improvements but an entertaining game. Kamada and Riad seem OK but not tested yet. Al: Another useful workout and encouraging to see Jesurun Rak-Sakyi on the scoresheet again. Would like to see Ebiowei given more playing time rather than a cameo role at the end, which makes no sense. With seven players to come back from international duty the squad will be looking to impress Glasner. Can't wait for the proper season to start. Philip: A reasonable performance given two of the Crawley goals came after comical slips from Anderson and Ward. It could have been even a higher score for Palace. The new signings in Kamada and Riad look good and still awaiting the return of Lerma, Munoz, Eze, Wharton, Henderson and Guehi. Darren: Hopefully now palace fans will stop constantly moaning about Edouard. Three goal contributions in 27 minutes. I understand it's against Crawley, but he still clearly is a good finisher and good at link-up play. Do not sell him! What did you make of that performance, Palace fans? How do you feel about the Eagles' start to pre-season? Let us know your thoughts here, external The Premier League season is fast approaching and clubs are continuing their pre-season preparations. Here are the teams in action on a busy Saturday. All times BST Crystal Palace have agreed a 15m euro (£12. 6m) deal in principle to sign Senegal winger Ismaila Sarr, 26, from Marseille. (Athletic - subscription required), external Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column Crystal Palace are targeting a move for 26-year-old Marseille and Senegal winger Ismaila Sarr. (Standard), external Want more transfer news? Read Thursday's full gossip column Pat Nevin Former footballer and presenter It isn't quiet in one specific part of the major football clubs - the acquisitions department. I know that because I was once the acquisitions department - well me and the manager mostly. While each player returned from holidays like a bronzed Adonis, we were cooped up in a small darkened room, beavering the daylight hours away like vampires. There is plenty of guesswork in the media and a fair bit of leaking from the players and their people, but the clubs usually try to keep their transfer moves as quiet as possible. If word gets out that a player is available, they know they might lose him to another club or else the price will increase as a bidding war erupts. ‌These are high stakes games and many are impressed by those who gamble and go early. Manchester City have always been good enough, and let's be honest wealthy enough, to be able to do this well. The problem is that some clubs are trying to do the same thing and are ending up paying top dollar for less able players, because they haven't done their due diligence in the market. This is another area where the use of data, or maybe over-reliance on pure data, comes into play - feed all of the numbers in, let the technology do the crunching, and out comes the answer. The problem is that everyone else has got the same or similar data. What is needed, of course, is good human knowledge and the vision to aid the use of the information they have got. This is why these departments should be busy just now, they shouldn't just be doing deals which are admittedly very complex legal and financial documents these days. Even more time should be spent on ensuring the new £75m player hasn't got a hidden weakness in his game or even the odd skeleton in his closet. Pat Nevin was writing for the BBC Football Extra Newsletter Manchester City are looking at making a move for Crystal Palace winger Eberechi Eze, with the 26-year-old England international having a release clause of £60m plus add-ons. (Mirror), external Arsenal are prepared to offer English forward Eddie Nketiah, 25, as part of a swap deal with Crystal Palace for 24-year-old England defender Marc Guehi. (Metro), external Want more transfer stories? Read Tuesday's full gossip column Crystal Palace are ready to bid £30m for Arsenal and England midfielder Emile Smith Rowe, 23. (Talksport), external The Eagles have held initial talks with Marseille over signing 26-year-old Senegal winger Ismaila Sarr. (Athletic - subscription required), external Want more transfer stories? Read Saturday's full gossip column Crystal Palace needed a late equaliser in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Charlton. In hot conditions, Oliver Glasner's side trailed to a Chuks Aneke goal at the break. But Jesurun Rak-Sakyi’s superb 90th-minute goal saw the spoils shared in a fixture where fitness and playing minutes took centre focus. Summer signings Chadi Riad and Daichi Kamada featured for the Eagles, with Kamada involved in creating the late leveller. It seems inevitable a host of Premier League managers will point to fixture congestion in the months to come. When injuries mount, or when time on the training ground is squeezed, coaches often reference the intense nature of the calendar. But research conducted by the respected CIES Football Observatory has delivered data which shows clubs are - on average - not playing more competitive games than they have in the last couple of decades. The CIES looked at 677 clubs across 40 leagues. In looking at a period from 2012 to 2024, its findings show in 2023-24, the average club played 42. 4 competitive matches. In 2014-15 that figure was 42. 6 and in 2020-21 it hit 43. 9. And if focus is placed on sides competing in the Champions League, data gathered between 2000 and 2024 also shows sides are not setting fixture records in the current game, as some managers may like to loosely imply. In looking at the five major European Leagues, the CIES claim Champions League competitors played an average of 50. 8 matches last season. In 2020-21 they averaged 57. 9 and in 2002-03 they contested 55. 2. Manchester United played in 52 competitive games last season, down from highs of 71 in 2020-21 and 66 in 2008-09. Across all of the clubs analysed, only 4% played more than 60 games last season. In 2012-13, the figure stood at 5. 1%. While clubs may play added friendlies and - it would be fair to say - individual matches tend to be longer given increased injury time in the current game, the data shows that competitive fixture numbers are flat or have in most cases fallen, even if disgruntled managers say otherwise. The full study is here, external Arsenal look set to end their interest in England defender Marc Guehi with Crystal Palace demanding more than £70m for the 24-year-old. (Mirror, external) Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column Arsenal are expecting further bids for 23-year-old midfielder Emile Smith Rowe after rejecting an offer from Fulham, with Crystal Palace also interested. (Evening Standard), external Want more transfer news? Read Wednesday's full gossip column © 2024 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.