Liverpool's Winger Rebuild: Barcola and Mbaye Negotiations Update
Liverpool’s winger rebuild is gathering pace, but Paris Saint-Germain are making sure it comes at a premium.
The Anfield club are deep in negotiations with PSG over Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye, yet the mood around the deals could not be more different. Barcola is the clear priority. Mbaye is the complication.
Barcola deal edging closer
Barcola has already made his stance clear. He wants Liverpool. PSG were informed of his desire to leave and, crucially, they did not stand in his way. There is “no intention” in Paris to keep him, according to RMC Sport’s Fabrice Hawkins.
That doesn’t mean he comes cheap.
PSG initially slapped a huge €170m valuation on the French forward, then trimmed that to €145m and more recently to around €125m. Liverpool have responded with an offer of €115m (around £98m) and are prepared to climb towards €120m to get it done.
Hawkins says Liverpool have already made several verbal offers and are now weighing up the decisive move.
“The next written offer will be the one that gets it done,” he said on the After Foot podcast, explaining that the final figure is expected to land between €130m and €150m, and that PSG will not accept anything below €120m.
Inside the talks, there is a shared belief: an agreement will be found. Barcola wants Anfield, Liverpool want Barcola, and PSG are ready to cash in at the right price. All roads point in the same direction.
Mbaye talks stall over price
Mbaye’s situation is far more tangled.
Liverpool have already reached a contractual agreement with the forward, Hawkins confirmed, but the gulf between the clubs is stark. PSG are seeking around £43-50m for the attacker. Liverpool value him closer to £30m.
Hawkins refused to publicly name the exact figure PSG are asking for Mbaye, stressing he has not had full confirmation yet. What he did underline, though, is the growing sense that the numbers are a major obstacle.
“PSG are asking for a substantial fee, and at the moment Liverpool aren’t ready to accept that,” he said.
While Liverpool sit at the table with PSG over Barcola, working towards “common ground”, Mbaye’s file is proving “a little bit more problematic”. Negotiations are still alive, but they are clearly running second to Barcola in Liverpool’s plans.
That hierarchy matters. With Barcola viewed as the marquee addition, Mbaye’s future may depend on how much budget Liverpool are willing to stretch once their top target is secured.
Minteh moves up the list
Just as Mbaye’s price began to bite, another name pushed to the front of the queue: Yankuba Minteh.
According to Lewis Steele of the Daily Mail, Liverpool have now decided to prioritise a move for the Brighton winger over Mbaye. The club have already seen a £50m bid rejected and are preparing a new offer.
This is not a case of either/or with Barcola, though. Liverpool still see the PSG star as their primary winger target, even as they work on Minteh. The ideal outcome from Anfield’s point of view is bold and expensive: sign both Barcola and Minteh to reshape the wide positions in one window.
If that happens, Mbaye could be squeezed out by pure arithmetic. PSG’s demands are high, Liverpool’s focus is drifting elsewhere, and every fresh bid for Minteh or Barcola eats into the room for a third major attacking deal.
For now, the market is waiting on one decisive email from Liverpool’s recruitment team — the written offer for Barcola that everyone inside the deal expects to finally crack PSG’s resolve. Once that lands, the rest of Liverpool’s attacking puzzle will fall into place, one way or another.
