Liverpool Targets PSG Duo Mbaye and Barcola in Salah Rebuild

Liverpool’s response to life after Mohamed Salah is starting to take shape – and it could involve a daring double move on Paris Saint-Germain.

The club are weighing up a twin raid for winger Ibrahim Mbaye and his team-mate Bradley Barcola, as they search for fresh firepower to reshape a forward line that has lost its most reliable source of goals. Salah’s departure to Trabzonspor has left a sizeable void, not just in numbers but in aura, and Liverpool know they cannot drift into the new season hoping the existing cast simply grows into the role.

The Daily Mail reports that Liverpool are firmly in the race for Senegal international Mbaye, with Manchester City and Tottenham also circling. That kind of company underlines the regard in which the winger is held. Liverpool, though, are considering going a step further by trying to prise both Mbaye and Barcola from Paris in one ambitious swoop.

The logic is clear. Concerns over the sharpness and depth of Liverpool’s attack are growing inside Anfield. Too often last season, the front line leaned on familiar patterns and familiar faces. Now, with Salah gone, the club are looking for pace, unpredictability and direct running – qualities both PSG forwards offer in abundance.

The pressure has started to build on Liverpool’s recruitment team to deliver a statement move. That is why the idea of a double bid has moved from fantasy to live discussion. Two rapid wide forwards, both hungry for bigger roles, both with the profile to grow, would instantly change the complexion of the attack.

PSG, however, will not make it easy. The French champions are expected to demand in excess of £150 million to part with the pair in this window. That figure reflects not their current status in the squad, but their potential and the financial muscle PSG are used to flexing in negotiations.

The irony is that both Barcola and Mbaye have spent long stretches watching from the bench in Paris. Minutes have been sporadic, opportunities limited. For Liverpool, that represents an opening. For the players, it represents a possible escape route to a league and a club where high-intensity, front-foot football is a way of life rather than a slogan.

Liverpool sense a chance to pounce before the new season kicks off, to turn another club’s surplus into their own spark. Whether they are willing to cross the £150m threshold to do it will say a lot about how aggressively they intend to write the next chapter of their attack.