Liverpool's Summer Rebuild: More Than Just Barcola and Mbaye

Julien Laurens believes Liverpool’s summer rebuild in attack cannot stop at Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye – not while Mohamed Salah’s shadow still hangs over Anfield.

The Reds are pushing hard to reshape their forward line, with Paris Saint-Germain pair Barcola and Mbaye at the centre of an ambitious double move. Barcola is the headline target, Mbaye the additional piece, as Liverpool search for a new edge in the final third.

But asked on Sky Sports (17:45, Tuesday, August 18) whether the window would be “complete” if Mbaye followed Barcola through the door, the European football expert was clear: they still look one striker short.

“I still think that until [Hugo] Ekitike comes back from injury – it’s a long one, we’re not sure exactly when it will be – they probably need a back up to Alexander Isak. Especially if Cody Gakpo goes,” Laurens said.

Strip it back and the concern is simple.

“You’re only left really with Isak as your nine,” he continued. “Ok, you could look at [Federico] Chiesa, you could look at maybe other options like a [Dominik] Szoboszlai as a false nine, or Curtis Jones as a false nine. But I still think they would need a backup striker there until Ekitike comes back.

“It could be a loan, it could be like the [Ronald] Araujo deal they did for the defence.”

So while Liverpool chase wide forwards and versatile attackers, Laurens is looking straight down the middle of the pitch and seeing a gap behind Isak that tactics alone might not cover.

Big money, double gamble

The numbers involved underline the scale of Liverpool’s bet on Barcola and Mbaye.

PSG value Barcola at around £145million. Add Mbaye on top and the package starts to look enormous for two players still to prove themselves in the Premier League.

There is a sense, though, that the French champions will bend. Barcola’s price is believed to be negotiable down to about £125million, with Mbaye potentially available for as little as £30million. Together, that would put the double deal at roughly £155million.

Liverpool clearly think there is a deal to be done. Officials from Anfield are currently in Paris, as revealed by TEAMtalk, trying to close the gap in valuations and drag the talks over the line.

It is not there yet. The clubs remain apart on price, and PSG are under no obligation to cave quickly. But Barcola and Mbaye have already been frozen out of the first-team picture while their futures are sorted, a hard stance that also signals a willingness to move them on.

That stand-off gives Liverpool hope. It also adds urgency.

Midfield questions, striker dilemma

Laurens’ concerns do not stop at the front line.

“Then also that midfield needs a bit of a rebuild, especially for the way Iraola wants to play, very different to Arne Slot. I’m not sure right now this midfield is exactly what he would want,” he said.

The stylistic shift he references is stark. Iraola demands intensity, verticality, aggression without the ball. Slot’s approach leans more on control and structure. If Liverpool are indeed building for Iraola’s blueprint, the current midfield – and the spending focus on wide forwards – may not fully align with what the new coach requires.

That tension feeds back into the striker issue. If Barcola and Mbaye both arrive for major fees, a permanent centre-forward signing becomes highly unlikely. The budget, and the squad slots, would be close to maxed out.

That leaves the loan market. Laurens floated the idea of a short-term fix up front, mirroring the defensive stop-gap they managed with Ronald Araujo. But with the window ticking down, quality loans at centre-forward are notoriously hard to find, especially for a club with Liverpool’s ambitions and expectations.

So the equation is brutal in its clarity:

• Spend big on Barcola and Mbaye,
• trust Isak to carry the nine role,
• improvise with Chiesa, Szoboszlai or Curtis Jones as false nines – and hope Ekitike returns on schedule.

Or accept that one more signing is needed, even if it means ripping up the plan and stretching the window to its limits.

Liverpool are betting heavily on Paris. The real question is whether that gamble still leaves them one striker light when the season’s demands start to bite.