Liverpool's Ambitious Rebuild: Pursuing Barcola, Mbaye, and Endrick

Liverpool’s attack, once the terror of Europe, has started to feel narrow, predictable, almost claustrophobic. Defenders no longer get dragged to the touchline, full-backs aren’t being turned and burned in the channels, and Anfield has spent too many afternoons watching red shirts funnel into crowded central zones with nowhere to go.

That is why this summer has become an exercise in rebuilding the wings. Not a tweak. A reset.

From Diomande to Barcola

Liverpool began the window with a clear brief: find pace and width. Yan Diomande was the first big idea, the name at the top of the list as the club searched for someone who could stretch the pitch and run at people with real menace.

That chase fizzled out. The target moved away, the door closed, and Liverpool had to pivot.

The focus is now firmly on Bradley Barcola at Paris Saint-Germain. Negotiations with PSG are live and tense, and, according to L’Équipe, Liverpool are preparing to put €115m on the table. It is the kind of figure that underlines both the urgency of the problem and the faith in the solution. Barcola brings direct running, acceleration, and the ability to rip open a defensive block from the flank. Exactly what last season’s side lacked.

A second raid on PSG

Barcola is not the only PSG forward in Liverpool’s sights. Fabrice Hawkins reports that Liverpool are also working on a deal for Ibrahim Mbaye, another wide option who would inject speed and aggression into the front line.

Two wingers, both quick, both brave on the ball. Two players who instantly make Liverpool less predictable and far harder to contain. It is a deliberate attempt to rebuild the front three’s profile, to restore that sense of jeopardy whenever the ball goes wide.

But if the plan stops there, it still leaves a hole.

Gakpo’s future and a glaring imbalance

If Barcola arrives, Cody Gakpo is expected to make way, with Tottenham Hotspur ready to move for the Dutchman. It would be a significant reshuffle: one versatile forward out, a specialist wide threat in.

Even with Mbaye on board, Liverpool would still be light on natural options from the right. The imbalance is stark. For all the talent in the squad, there is, quite remarkably, no left-footed attacker to naturally occupy that side and threaten on the inside.

That is where the third piece of this ambitious puzzle comes in.

The Endrick play

Liverpool are pushing hard on the idea of signing Endrick from Real Madrid. The Brazilian, long admired at Anfield and on the club’s radar since 2022, has given the green light to a move away from the Santiago Bernabéu. Liverpool, by all accounts, are well placed.

Endrick is not just another name on a recruitment list. He is viewed as a potential centrepiece. A forward who can attack from the right, yet prefers to operate through the middle. A player whose movement, intelligence, and work rate invite comparisons with Roberto Firmino in the right environment.

That environment, Liverpool believe, is Anfield.

With Hugo Ekitike ruled out until 2027, the need for someone who can lead the line as well as drift wide is acute. Endrick ticks both boxes. He offers goals, fluidity, and the kind of positional flexibility that has underpinned Liverpool’s best attacking sides under recent managers.

A front line built to scare again

Put it together and the vision is clear: Barcola, Mbaye, Endrick. Three forwards, all with pace, all with something to prove, all young enough to grow into the next great Liverpool front line.

This is not just about numbers. It is about reshaping the attack’s identity. Youth, speed, goals, experience on the biggest stage – each of the trio has already appeared at a World Cup, each arrives with a sense of global expectation.

Liverpool’s attack once sent a message every time the team sheet dropped. Defenders knew they were in for 90 minutes of running, chasing, and suffering. In recent seasons, that aura has faded.

A triple signing of this scale, and this profile, would change that overnight.

Now the question is simple: will Liverpool push these deals over the line and restore that fear factor, or let a rare chance to reinvent their forward line pass them by?