Liverpool outcast Mamadou Sakho 'much too expensive' for Crystal Palace, says Frank de Boer

Liverpool's forgotten man Mamadou Sakho is "much too expensive" for Crystal Palace, according to manager Frank de Boer. The Reds have placed a £30m price tag on Sakho, who is also attracting interest from West Ham United, but have failed to find any suitors willing to meet their asking price for a player who has been completely frozen out of first-team reckoning by Jurgen Klopp.

Speaking after his side's 1-0 defeat at Anfield, De Boer did admit that Sakho would be a "quality injection" for Palace, who have lost their opening two league fixtures, but suggested that a deal for the Frenchman is not on the horizon due to the Merseysiders' exorbitant asking price.

"Everybody knows he [Sakho] 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 told the Guardian. "It is not like this now because he is much too expensive for the club."

Crystal Palace have already drafted in two defenders this summer in Jairo Riedewald and Timothy Fosu-Mensah but De Boer is still on the lookout for further additions to his backline. Liverpool are also looking for a new central defender, namely Virgil van Dijk, who is desperate to leave Southampton before the end of the transfer window.

Liverpool would seemingly have no issue paying upwards of £60m for Van Dijk even if they did not receive £30m for Sakho, but their pursuit of the Dutch international is showing little signs of life after the Saints were left fuming by what was perceived as tapping up by Klopp's men. Liverpool apologised both publicly and privately to Southampton, and will only return with an offer for Van Dijk if Mauricio Pellegrino's men make it known that they are willing to sell.

Palace's problems with defensive recruitment are more financial, with the club's owners reluctant to invest heavily in the side this summer. De Boer would presumably prefer to have more money available to him at Selhurst Park, but instead he is wondering how some free-spending clubs are going to get around Financial Fair Play regulations, with revenues streams seemingly failing to match the outlay of some sides.

"What's returned to football are the big-money owners, the win‑at‑all‑costs owners, almost bottomless pockets," the Crystal Palace boss 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."