Liverpool's Winger Hunt Intensifies After Salah Exit
Liverpool’s winger hunt is turning into one of the summer’s most tangled transfer plots – and patience is starting to snap on all sides.
Liverpool load up out wide after Salah exit
Mohamed Salah’s surprise move to Trabzonspor ripped a hole in Liverpool’s attack, and the club have responded by throwing their weight behind wide reinforcements before the window shuts.
Victor Munoz has already arrived from Osasuna. Now the focus has locked onto Yankuba Minteh and Ibrahim Mbaye, with Bradley Barcola also firmly on the radar.
Minteh, currently at Brighton, has become the central piece of Liverpool’s late-window push. Gambian journalist Foday Manneh revealed on Friday that Brighton rejected a second Liverpool bid for the winger, having already turned down an opening offer of £50m. Even so, both clubs are described as hopeful of finding an agreement and talks are ongoing.
Manneh reported that Liverpool’s latest offer was knocked back, but the door remains open. The player wants the move. The clubs are still at the table.
Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano then echoed Manneh’s information, adding a key detail: Minteh and Liverpool already have a “broad verbal agreement” on personal terms, with the 19-year-old said to have given the green light to the project at Anfield. According to Romano, Brighton rejected a £60m bid on Friday, yet negotiations are continuing.
The pressure is building. And it is not just on Merseyside.
Mbaye and Barcola grow restless as talks drag
In Paris, frustration is starting to boil over.
French outlet L’Equipe, via Get French Football News, report that both Ibrahim Mbaye and Bradley Barcola now feel their transfer sagas have dragged on too long. Both players are targets for Liverpool. Both are waiting. Neither is happy with how slowly things are moving.
The situation has already had consequences. L’Equipe claim the two wingers are not expected to be part of Luis Enrique’s travelling squad for Paris Saint-Germain’s Ligue 1 opener against Rennes. For players of their profile, that is a clear signal: they are on the market, but the exit door is jammed.
Negotiations between PSG and Liverpool for France international Barcola are said to be moving, but only inch by inch. Talks for Mbaye, his Senegalese teammate, are progressing even more slowly.
Time is starting to matter. With only ten days left in the summer window, L’Equipe report that Mbaye is now prepared to look elsewhere if Liverpool do not accelerate their efforts. What once looked like a straight path to Anfield is turning into a crossroads.
A €20m stand-off
The financial gap explains a lot of the delay.
RMC Sport, as cited in the same report, state that Liverpool and PSG are currently €20m apart in their valuation of Mbaye. PSG want €70m. Liverpool are only willing to go to €50m.
That standoff leaves Liverpool juggling risk. Push harder for Minteh and they may cool their pursuit of Mbaye. Hold out for Mbaye and they could see Minteh slip away if Brighton decide to dig in. All the while, Barcola waits in the background, another high-level option whose patience is wearing thin.
Liverpool have made their move clear: rebuild the flanks quickly and decisively after Salah’s departure. The question now is whether their negotiating stance matches the urgency of their need – or whether one of Europe’s most intriguing winger trios will decide Anfield is taking too long and walk through a different door.
