Liverpool's Summer Attack Rebuild: The Need for More Than Barcola and Mbaye
Julien Laurens believes Liverpool’s summer rebuild in attack cannot stop at Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye – not if they are serious about life after Mohamed Salah.
The club are pushing hard to reshape their forward line, with Paris Saint-Germain pair Barcola and Mbaye emerging as major targets in what could become a blockbuster double deal. But speaking on Sky Sports at 17:45 on Tuesday, August 18, the European football expert argued that even landing both would still leave a glaring gap through the middle.
Laurens stressed that, with Hugo Ekitike sidelined by a long-term injury and no clear return date, Liverpool would be taking a risk by going into the season without another recognised centre-forward to support Alexander Isak – particularly if Cody Gakpo moves on.
“You’re only left really with Isak as your nine,” he said, highlighting the lack of depth at the tip of the attack.
There are creative solutions: Federico Chiesa could be pushed centrally, Dominik Szoboszlai or Curtis Jones could operate as a false nine. But those are workarounds, not a plan.
Laurens’ view is blunt: Liverpool still “need a backup striker there until Ekitike comes back”. A short-term fix is firmly on the table. He floated the idea of a loan, likening it to the Ronald Araujo deal used to bolster the defence, as a model the club could replicate in attack.
The question marks do not stop up front. Laurens also pointed at the midfield as another area that demands attention. For the style Andoni Iraola wants – a clear break from the ideas of Arne Slot – the current options look mismatched. “I’m not sure right now this midfield is exactly what he would want,” he warned, underlining that the rebuild has to be structural, not cosmetic.
All of this comes against the backdrop of an eye-watering negotiation in Paris.
PSG value Barcola at around £145million, a figure that on its own would reshape Liverpool’s transfer budget. Adding Mbaye at that rate would push the total fee for the pair into truly enormous territory.
Liverpool, though, sense an opportunity.
There is confidence that Barcola’s price can be driven down to about £125million, with Mbaye potentially available for as little as £30million. Together, that would mean a combined outlay of roughly £155million – still huge, but significantly below the original numbers.
Officials from Liverpool are already in the French capital, as revealed by TEAMtalk, working to close the gap in valuations and drag the talks over the line. The deals are not done, and there is still negotiating to be thrashed out, but there is a clear belief at Anfield that a compromise can be found.
One factor plays in Liverpool’s favour: both Barcola and Mbaye have been frozen out of the PSG squad while their futures are decided. That stance from the French champions signals a willingness to sell and gives Liverpool leverage, with the players effectively in limbo until a resolution arrives.
Yet there is a trade-off. If Liverpool do manage to land both Barcola and Mbaye, a permanent move for a centre-forward becomes highly unlikely given the financial and squad implications. At that point, the club would be forced to scour the market for a loan striker – a tough task this late in the window, when most clubs are reluctant to weaken their own depth.
So the equation is clear: a huge double swoop from Paris, a midfield that still needs reshaping, and a hole at centre-forward that refuses to disappear. Liverpool can’t sign everyone. The real test now is whether they can sign the right ones.
