Liverpool Target PSG Starlet Ibrahim Mbaye for Attack Rebuild
Liverpool have sounded out a deal for Paris Saint-Germain teenager Ibrahim Mbaye, stepping up their search for fresh firepower out wide in Andoni Iraola’s first transfer window on Merseyside.
The 18-year-old winger, who prefers operating from the right, is understood to be open to a move to Anfield as Liverpool rebuild their front line after the departure of Mohamed Salah at the end of last season. The club see wide areas as the heartbeat of Iraola’s attacking blueprint, and recruitment there has become the defining theme of this summer.
Mbaye is one of several options on a winger shortlist that blends raw talent with ready-made quality. Liverpool also hold strong interest in his PSG team-mate Bradley Barcola, but they have not yet tabled a formal offer for either player. Crucially, the pursuit of Mbaye is being driven on its own merits, not as a fallback or a bargaining chip in any discussions over Barcola.
That independence matters, because the two deals live in very different financial worlds. PSG’s £145m valuation of Barcola has placed that move firmly in the “difficult to do” category for now. Mbaye, by contrast, fits the profile of the younger, developmental signing Liverpool want to add alongside more established options.
The plan is clear: by the end of the window, Liverpool intend to have five wingers in the squad, with one of those slots reserved for a younger player they can mould. Victor Munoz has already arrived at Anfield this summer, and the club are prepared to pair someone of Mbaye’s age and potential with a more experienced signing if the market allows.
For Iraola, wide players are not just a tactical preference but the spine of his philosophy. His football demands aggression on the flanks, runners who stretch the pitch and press with conviction. With Salah gone, that right side has become both a tactical question and an emotional one. Liverpool need a new story there.
Mbaye offers the beginnings of one.
The teenager has come through PSG’s academy, making his senior debut in August 2024 at just 16. Internationally, his path has already taken a sharp turn. Having represented France at youth level, he made his senior bow for Senegal in November 2025 and has not looked back.
On the biggest stage of all, he has already written his name into the record books. At the 2026 World Cup, Mbaye 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. That goal underlined why Europe’s elite have been tracking his progress so closely.
Liverpool now sit among that group, weighing up whether this is the right time to move. The club’s recruitment team want a blend of instant impact and long-term upside, and Mbaye ticks the second box emphatically. The question is whether they can land him while still keeping room in the budget and in the squad for a more seasoned wide forward.
What is not in doubt is the direction of travel. Iraola’s Liverpool will be built on width, pace and relentless running. If Mbaye walks through the Shankly Gates in the coming weeks, he will not just be another prospect from PSG’s production line. He will be asked to grow into a central figure in the next version of Liverpool’s attack.
