Liverpool's Pursuit of Ibrahim Mbaye: A Succession Plan for Salah

Liverpool’s Salah succession plan may finally be moving from theory to action.

After a summer of links to almost every attacking name on the market, the club are preparing their first formal move for Paris Saint‑Germain winger Ibrahim Mbaye, according to journalist Loic Tanzi, who reports Liverpool “should send a first offer to Paris… in the coming days.”

For a squad still reeling from a flat, disjointed campaign, it would mark a significant shift in their rebuild.

A gaping hole on the right

Liverpool’s need in the final third is obvious. Three signings are already through the door, but the frontline still feels unfinished, not least because Mohamed Salah has not been truly replaced.

You don’t really replace Salah. You just try to survive the hole he leaves.

Even in a season where his form dipped, the Egyptian still produced 22 goal contributions across all competitions. Those numbers underline the size of the void Liverpool are trying to fill, and why the current options alone will not cut it.

Victor Munoz, Federico Chiesa and Jeremie Frimpong can all operate on the right. None of them, though, is a long-term, natural heir in that role. The sense inside and outside Anfield is the same: one more top‑class attacker is non‑negotiable if Liverpool want to start talking about titles again.

That is where Mbaye comes in.

Why Mbaye fits the project

On the surface, he looks like a gamble. Just 18 years old, still learning the game, still growing into his frame. Look a little closer and the picture changes.

Mbaye has already scored 19 goals in his young club career and has broken into the Senegal national team, earning 15 caps and scoring four times for his country. Those are not youth‑team numbers. That is production at senior level, on the international stage, before his 20th birthday.

It speaks to a player who doesn’t just have talent, but temperament. Senegal do not hand out minutes lightly.

For Liverpool, the appeal stretches beyond his raw output. The squad’s depth was brutally exposed last season. Certain positions looked strong on paper, but performances told a different story. Too many players dipped, too many games slipped away, and the idea of this group being ready to hunt down major trophies again felt fanciful.

A move for Mbaye would not solve everything. It would, however, push the rebuild in the right direction: younger, quicker, hungrier.

There is also a crucial strategic angle. Because of his age, by the time Mbaye needs to be registered in Liverpool’s Premier League squad, he will count as homegrown. That addresses one of the club’s biggest structural headaches and gives them more flexibility in future windows.

For a recruitment department that has always tried to think two or three years ahead, that matters.

PSG’s stance opens the door

All of this is happening against the backdrop of PSG’s willingness to move the player on. The French champions are open to letting Mbaye leave, a stance that instantly makes him a more realistic target than some of the other names floated around Liverpool this summer.

A talented 18‑year‑old, already capped by Senegal, a natural right‑winger, available because his club want to cash in or clear space. It is the kind of market opportunity Liverpool have historically tried to pounce on.

And that last detail is perhaps the most important footballing one: Mbaye is a specialist on the right. No conversions, no compromises. He plays in the exact zone where Liverpool’s greatest modern forward left his mark.

No one will be Salah. But Liverpool cannot wait forever to start writing the next chapter on that flank.

If this first bid lands and negotiations with PSG progress, Anfield could soon be watching a very different kind of right‑winger grow into that role. The question is not whether Mbaye can match Salah’s legacy. It’s whether he can help drag Liverpool’s attack back to a level where those comparisons even matter again.