Liverpool Pursue Ibrahim Mbaye as Future Winger
Liverpool’s search for the next great Anfield winger has led them to Paris – and to one of the most intriguing young talents in European football.
The club have explored the conditions of a deal for Paris Saint-Germain’s 18-year-old wide player Ibrahim Mbaye, a teenager who has already written his name into World Cup history and is understood to be keen on a move to Merseyside.
This is not a casual enquiry. Wide areas are the priority in Andoni Iraola’s first transfer window in charge, and Liverpool are working through a defined plan: five wingers by the end of the window, with one of them a younger project player to develop. Mbaye fits that final brief almost perfectly.
Life after Salah
The right flank at Anfield has carried one name for seven years. Mohamed Salah’s departure at the end of last season left more than a gap; it left a reference point missing. Liverpool are not trying to clone Salah, but they do need to restock that side of the pitch with pace, incision and end product.
Mbaye predominantly operates off the right, exactly where Liverpool have been looking to strengthen since Salah’s exit. The club have already moved for Victor Munoz this summer and are weighing up further options, but the PSG youngster stands out as a potential long-term pillar of Iraola’s new-look attack.
Iraola’s football leans heavily on his wide players. They stretch the game, trigger the press, and carry much of the creative burden. It explains why Liverpool’s recruitment team have zeroed in on wingers so aggressively in this window. The flanks are not a detail in his system; they are the engine.
Separate tracks: Mbaye and Barcola
Liverpool’s interest in Mbaye sits alongside, but not behind, another PSG name: Bradley Barcola. The club hold a strong interest in the Frenchman, yet have not tabled a formal offer for either player.
Crucially, Mbaye is not a Plan B to Barcola. The pursuit of the Senegal international is completely independent of any potential move for his more established team-mate. Liverpool’s strategy leaves room for both – in theory.
In practice, PSG’s £145m valuation of Barcola makes that deal extremely difficult. Numbers like that reshape a window. It is possible Liverpool could sign Mbaye and then add a more experienced wide option, but Barcola at that price point would test even a club of Liverpool’s financial clout and strategic discipline.
For now, Mbaye represents a different kind of play: a bet on upside, development and timing.
From Paris prodigy to World Cup history-maker
Mbaye is not an unknown quantity inside elite scouting circles. He came through PSG’s academy and made his senior debut in August 2024 as a 16-year-old, an early promotion that underlined how highly he was rated in Paris.
Internationally, his path has already taken a significant turn. Having represented France at youth level, Mbaye switched to Senegal and made his senior debut for the African nation in November 2025. The decision quickly took on historic weight.
At the 2026 World Cup, he became the youngest African ever to score at the tournament, finding the net at 18 years and 143 days in Senegal’s 3-1 defeat to France. The result went against him. The moment did not. On the biggest stage, against his former youth nation, the teenager delivered.
Those are the kind of details that catch the eye at a club like Liverpool: temperament under pressure, fearlessness in front of goal, a willingness to seize the stage rather than shrink from it.
The blueprint on the wing
Liverpool’s internal plan is clear: finish the window with five wingers in the squad, blending established performers with at least one younger player earmarked for development. Mbaye falls squarely into that second category, but with the profile to grow into much more.
Iraola wants wide players who can press aggressively, attack space, and carry a threat one-on-one. Mbaye’s natural role off the right, his experience in a high-intensity environment at PSG, and his early exposure to international football all point to a player who could be moulded into exactly that kind of weapon.
Liverpool are not there yet. No formal offer has gone in for Mbaye, and the market around PSG’s attackers is rarely straightforward. But the lines of communication are open, the conditions of a deal have been explored, and the player is believed to be interested in Anfield.
For a club rebuilding its wings after the Salah era, the question now is simple: do they lean into proven, expensive firepower, or back a teenage World Cup record-breaker to grow into the shirt under Iraola’s demanding gaze?
