Ibrahim Mbaye: Liverpool's Next Step in the Post-Salah Era

Liverpool have spent the summer under the microscope, every quiet day at Anfield treated like a crisis, every rumour like a referendum on the club’s ambition.

The revolution many expected has not quite materialised. Not yet. But there is a shape emerging.

Victor Munoz and Jeremy Jacquet have already walked through the door. Ronald Aruajo is expected to follow by the end of next week. Three targeted additions, three attempts to plug obvious gaps rather than tear everything up and start again. It is not the sweeping rebuild some supporters imagined, but it is not stagnation either. It feels like a club edging, piece by piece, towards a new version of itself.

Now comes the first real flash of attacking intrigue.

Mbaye turns his head towards Anfield

Liverpool’s recruitment noise has been relentless. A new name every other day, a new “priority target” on every timeline. Most of it goes nowhere. Fans know that, but they still get drawn in.

One name, though, has started to cut through: Ibrahim Mbaye.

The 18-year-old Senegal international finds himself squeezed at Paris Saint-Germain. Maghnes Akliouche has arrived. Ferran Torres could be next. The attacking queue in Paris was long already; now Mbaye is staring at the prospect of dropping even further down the pecking order. PSG, unsurprisingly, are ready to move him on.

Plenty of clubs have circled. But, according to a fresh update from Football Insider, the teenager’s mind appears to be made up.

“Ibrahim Mbaye is keen to join Liverpool this summer despite the growing interest from rival clubs, sources have told Football Insider,” the outlet reported, adding that after Andoni Iraola’s side made their interest public, “the 18-year-old is believed to have had his head turned by the possibility of making the move to Anfield.”

Bayer Leverkusen, they say, are pushing hard to agree terms with PSG, but could now face a “stumbling block” with Mbaye’s preference leaning towards the Premier League. Liverpool, having been alerted to his availability, are described as preparing an attempt to bring him in, with PSG open to a deal given the sheer depth of their attacking options and doubts over his long-term role.

For a teenager, that is a bold choice: turn down a clearer pathway elsewhere, and aim straight for Anfield.

A teenager in the shadow of Salah

Liverpool’s biggest question this season is brutally simple: where do Mohamed Salah’s goals and assists come from now?

Since 2017, the Egyptian has been the axis around which the entire attack spun. Goals, creativity, reliability – week after week, year after year. Strip that out and the numbers are daunting. Some of the current forwards might step up, but last season did not offer many guarantees.

That is the context into which Mbaye could walk.

He is only 18, but he is already a full Senegal international and has played an important role for PSG and his country during the 2025–26 season. Crucially, he is a natural right‑winger – the very lane Salah turned into his personal kingdom.

No one at Liverpool will expect him to replicate Salah’s output immediately. He is not arriving as a ready-made 22-goal contributor. The bar is too high, the shadow too long. Yet if he can deliver even half of that sort of return in his first season, and if the rest of Liverpool’s forwards carry their share, the collective picture begins to look far less daunting.

This is the point. Liverpool are not going to find another Salah. There is no like-for-like replacement out there. The task is to spread the burden, to let several players fill the void between them rather than pinning everything on one man.

Mbaye, with his age, profile and position, fits that strategy. He is not the answer on his own. He might be a key part of it.

If Liverpool do get this deal over the line, they will not just be signing a highly rated teenager from PSG. They will be taking a deliberate step into their post-Salah future and trusting that a new “phenomenon” can grow in the space he left behind.