Liverpool Targets PSG’s Ibrahim Mbaye Amid Barcola Talks Stalling

Liverpool’s post-Mohamed Salah rebuild is starting to take shape – and the next piece may arrive from Paris, but not the name that has dominated the headlines all summer.

For weeks, Bradley Barcola has been the marquee target, the statement signing to follow Salah’s departure after nine gilded years at Anfield. Yet as negotiations over the French international drag on, attention has swung to another Paris Saint-Germain talent: Ibrahim Mbaye, an 18-year-old Senegalese forward who has quietly become one of the most coveted young attackers in Europe.

According to RMC Sport, Liverpool are now expected to reach an agreement with PSG for Mbaye, in what is shaping up to be a landmark summer of outgoings for the European champions. PSG have already banked close to €150 million from the departures of Kang-in Lee to Atletico Madrid, Goncalo Ramos to Milan and Randal Kolo Muani to Juventus. Mbaye could be the next name on that growing list.

A talent blocked by PSG’s ambitions

Mbaye has two years left on his current deal in Paris and is regarded as one of the brightest young strikers in French football. The problem for him is simple: timing.

PSG’s forward line is crowded, and the club are still hunting for a headline attacker, with Julian Alvarez and Yan Diomande among the names pursued earlier in the window. For a teenager trying to carve out regular minutes under Luis Enrique, the pathway is murky at best.

That congestion has opened the door. PSG value Mbaye between €35m and €45m, a price bracket that has drawn Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen into a straight fight for his signature.

The Bundesliga champions are not just lurking in the background, either. Canal+ journalist Olivier Tallaron has claimed on X that Leverkusen currently hold the edge over Liverpool in the race, a stance that sits in sharp contrast to RMC Sport’s reporting. RMC insist Mbaye is attracted by the idea of developing on Merseyside, under a manager willing to trust youth in high-pressure situations.

Two narratives, one decision looming.

Separate tracks: Mbaye and Barcola

What is clear is that Liverpool’s pursuit of Mbaye does not kill the Barcola chase. The deals are being treated independently.

FourFourTwo understands that Mbaye is not a fallback option, but a different profile. Barcola is more naturally a left-winger, a player who drifts inside, manipulates space and attacks full-backs from the flank. Mbaye, by contrast, is primarily seen as an option on the right, closer in positional terms to the zone Salah dominated for nearly a decade.

Both can operate on either wing and through the middle. That flexibility matters. Liverpool’s attacking jigsaw is crowded, but not yet complete.

New signing Victor Munoz, Florian Wirtz, Cody Gakpo, Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike are all capable of playing from the left. The question is how the pieces are arranged: who leads the line, who drops into pockets behind the striker, who stretches the pitch from wide areas.

On the right, the picture is even less settled. That role could fall to a natural winger like Mbaye, or be filled by players such as Jeremie Frimpong or Dominik Szoboszlai, both of whom operated there at times last season.

Money, margins and a “historic” window

If Mbaye’s fee looks manageable, Barcola’s does not. PSG have set an asking price of over €150m for the French international. Liverpool, wary of detonating their wage and fee structure in a single move, are reluctant to go anywhere near that number.

As RMC put it, the two clubs remain “far apart” in their valuations. Somewhere between PSG’s sky-high demands and Liverpool’s refusal to “break the bank”, a compromise would have to emerge for Barcola to walk through the Shankly Gates. For now, that feels distant.

Mbaye, by contrast, sits in a bracket Liverpool have worked in before: significant money, but not transformative to the entire market. For PSG, he would be another line in what they consider a “historic” summer of sales. For Liverpool, he could be the first real glimpse of how they intend to evolve without Salah.

A system waiting for its winger

Tactically, the move would fit the coach’s preferences. While at Bournemouth, Andoni Iraola showed no fear in using right-footers on the right and left-footers on the left, resisting the modern obsession with inverted wingers when the balance of the team demanded something different.

Alex Jimenez spent long stretches of last season on the right flank, hugging the touchline and stretching play, before Marcus Tavernier nailed down the left side towards the run-in. Iraola wants runners, aggressors, forwards who commit defenders and open lanes for those behind them.

Mbaye ticks those boxes. Young, direct, able to play across the front line, he offers the sort of tactical elasticity Liverpool’s current attacking group is missing on the right.

Leverkusen’s interest complicates everything. The chance to join the Bundesliga champions, with Xabi Alonso’s high-tempo, high-pressing football and the lure of guaranteed European nights, is a powerful pull for any emerging forward.

Liverpool, though, can offer something different: Anfield, the Premier League, and the chance to step into a vacancy on the right that still feels monumental every time Salah’s name is mentioned.

One club will win the argument. One teenager will choose his stage. And when he does, the shape of Liverpool’s new era in attack will come sharply into focus.