Liverpool's Interest in Ibrahim Mbaye as Transfer Window Closes

Liverpool’s search for attacking reinforcements has hit a familiar snag: interest, but no deal.

The club have looked closely at Ibrahim Mbaye this summer, yet a move for the 18-year-old winger is not active at this stage, according to The Athletic. Senior figures at Anfield are said to be adamant that talks have not progressed and have dismissed claims that personal terms with the Senegal international are already in place.

Bayer Leverkusen are among the other clubs to have explored a deal for Mbaye, but Liverpool’s stance is clear. For now, it has gone no further.

Price tag tests Liverpool’s resolve

Paris Saint-Germain are understood to value Mbaye at around £43 million, a figure that immediately tests how far Liverpool are willing to go for an additional wide forward this window.

That question becomes sharper when set alongside the club’s pursuit of Bradley Barcola. The Frenchman could cost north of £120 million, a fee that would dominate Liverpool’s summer outlay and shape what is left for any other attacking targets.

If Barcola arrives on a permanent deal, the room for manoeuvre on someone like Mbaye shrinks quickly. Yet the market offers few young right-sided wingers with his profile at a significantly lower cost, which keeps the debate alive inside recruitment circles even as the clock runs down.

The profile Liverpool like

On the pitch, Mbaye looks like a textbook fit for what Liverpool want from a winger.

As reported by Andy Jones, the teenager leans on acceleration and sharp turning to escape tight spaces rather than engage in physical battles he is unlikely to win at this stage of his development. He drives forward with the ball, often using those bursts to create chances for others instead of hunting shots for himself.

That detail matters. Liverpool’s planning points towards shifting the bulk of the goalscoring burden onto a central forward, with Alexander Isak expected to shoulder much of that responsibility. If that model holds, the wide players must become facilitators – high-volume chance creators who stretch defences and feed the No 9.

In that framework, Mbaye’s profile makes sense. He is right-footed, right-sided, direct, creative, and still years away from his ceiling.

Raw talent, inflated market

The hesitation comes with the numbers, not the talent.

Mbaye is only 18 and, by any measure, still raw. A £40m–£50m fee for a teenager without a long top-level track record will always invite scrutiny, even in an era where elite potential is routinely priced at a premium.

Yet this is the modern market. Clubs either pay early for upside or watch those same players move elsewhere, develop, and become unaffordable. From a long-term perspective, Liverpool know that if Mbaye fulfils his promise at another club, his value could soar far beyond today’s asking price.

That is the calculation: pay now and shape his development in-house, or walk away and risk seeing a possible long-term solution flourish in a different shirt.

Time running out

For all the internal debate, one reality is unavoidable: the window is closing fast.

Liverpool still need at least two forwards through the door before deadline day to properly support Isak and refresh the frontline. Some voices around the club would argue the ideal number is three – two wingers and a central forward – to spread the workload and guard against injuries across a long season.

With only 12 days left before the summer window shuts, the room for deliberation is shrinking. The Mbaye pursuit has stalled, Barcola’s situation looms large, and Liverpool’s attack still feels one, maybe two signings short.

The next fortnight will reveal whether Liverpool decide to gamble big on youth like Mbaye, double down on a marquee move for Barcola, or pivot entirely. One way or another, they cannot afford to stand still.