Liverpool Pursue PSG's Ibrahim Mbaye as Salah Successor

Liverpool’s post‑Mohamed Salah rebuild is edging towards Paris – but not for the name many expected.

While Bradley Barcola has dominated the early weeks of Liverpool’s window, the deal now gathering pace is for another Paris Saint-Germain talent: Ibrahim Mbaye. According to RMC Sport, Liverpool are “expected” to reach an agreement for the 18-year-old Senegalese forward, as the European champions continue a ruthless summer of sales.

PSG have already banked close to €150 million, with Kang-in Lee joining Atletico Madrid, Goncalo Ramos heading to Milan and Randal Kolo Muani moving to Juventus. Mbaye may be the next high-profile departure in what is being framed in France as a historic clear-out.

A crowded PSG attack, a blocked pathway

Mbaye still has two years left on his PSG contract and is regarded as one of the brightest young strikers in French football. The problem for him lies in the queue ahead.

Luis Enrique’s forward line is already stacked, and PSG’s hierarchy are still chasing a marquee attacker, with Julian Alvarez and Yan Diomande both pursued earlier in the window. For Mbaye, the route to regular starts in Paris is murky at best.

That has opened the door. The teenager is valued between €35m and €45m, a price range that has drawn serious interest from Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen. It is a straight fight for a player seen by many scouts as ready to explode with minutes at elite level.

The tug-of-war is finely poised. Canal+ journalist Olivier Tallaron has claimed on X that Leverkusen currently hold the edge over Liverpool. RMC Sport, though, paint a different picture, reporting that Mbaye is attracted by the prospect of developing on Merseyside.

Separate to Barcola – and not a Plan B

Crucially for Liverpool, the Mbaye chase is not a Plan B for missing out on Barcola. FourFourTwo understands the two pursuits are separate, with the players earmarked for different roles.

Barcola, a French international, is viewed primarily as a left-winger. Mbaye operates mainly from the right. Both are versatile enough to switch flanks or play through the middle, but Liverpool’s recruitment team are treating them as complementary pieces rather than alternatives.

Landing Barcola, however, is far from straightforward. Talks with PSG are ongoing, yet the two clubs remain “far apart” in their valuations. PSG are holding out for a fee in excess of €150m. Liverpool, wary of detonating their wage and fee structure on a single deal, are reluctant to go anywhere near that number. A compromise would have to be dramatic for that transfer to cross the line.

Fitting the pieces around a new-look frontline

The shape of Liverpool’s attack underlines why both Mbaye and Barcola are on the radar. The squad is rich in players comfortable on the left: Victor Munoz, Florian Wirtz, Cody Gakpo, Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike can all operate there or centrally.

What remains unclear is how those options will be arranged. Who anchors the left? Who leads the line? Who drifts between the lines behind the striker? And, most pointedly, who owns the right flank in the post-Salah era?

Last season, that right-sided role often fell to players stepping out of their natural zones. Jeremie Frimpong and Dominik Szoboszlai both spent time there, offering energy and invention but not always the cutting edge of a specialist wide forward.

That is where Mbaye comes into sharp focus. A right-sided attacker by trade, capable of swapping flanks and moving inside, he fits the profile of a modern wide forward Liverpool have used so effectively in recent years.

The tactical backdrop matters, too. While at Bournemouth, Iraola showed little fear in using orthodox-footed wingers on their natural sides – a right-footer on the right, a left-footer on the left. Alex Jimenez saw extensive minutes on the right before Marcus Tavernier nailed down the left towards the end of the campaign. That preference for balance on the flanks could make a right-footed right-winger like Mbaye an especially attractive piece for the Liverpool manager.

Liverpool and Leverkusen now circle the same prize. PSG count the money and wait. For Mbaye, the next decision could define his career: lead the new wave at Anfield, or join one of Europe’s most exciting projects in the Bundesliga.