Liverpool Secures Terms with PSG's Ibrahim Mbaye Amid Barcola Negotiations

Liverpool’s chase for Paris Saint-Germain’s Bradley Barcola has defined their summer. It might not define how it ends.

With negotiations over a nine-figure fee for the World Cup star still stuck in the mud, Liverpool have quietly moved on a parallel track. FourFourTwo understands the club remain in talks for Barcola – and already have a contract agreed with him – but they have now shaken hands on terms with his PSG team-mate Ibrahim Mbaye as well.

It is a significant shift. And a clear signal that Anfield will not wait forever.

Mbaye deal in place as Liverpool hedge their bets

RMC Sport report that Liverpool have agreed a five-year deal with Mbaye, the highly rated Senegalese teenager, as they press ahead with plans to reinforce an attack stripped of Mohamed Salah over the summer.

Barcola has been the preferred target from the opening days of the window. Liverpool identified him early, pushed early and, crucially, reached an agreement on personal terms. The problem lies in Paris, where PSG have been in no rush to drop their valuation of a player they see as central to their long-term project.

That uncertainty has opened the door for Mbaye.

The 19-year-old remains behind Barcola in the PSG pecking order, but Liverpool see opportunity where others see a squad player. With a long-term contract now agreed, they are effectively running two deals at once: still pushing for Barcola, but ready to pivot if PSG refuse to budge.

PSG reload in attack

All of this unfolds against a backdrop of upheaval in Paris.

PSG’s forward line has been reshaped again this summer. Goncalo Ramos has departed to Ruben Amorim’s Milan, while the French champions have accelerated moves for World Cup final hero Ferran Torres and Ajax prospect Mika Godts.

They are building numbers, not just names.

Last season, first-choice trio Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Desire Doue and Ousmane Dembele combined for 52 goals in all competitions. Barcola added 13, Mbaye chipped in with three. The numbers underline the hierarchy: both youngsters contributed, both largely watched when it mattered most.

Across Ligue 1, the Coupe de France and the Champions League, Barcola actually made more appearances than any other PSG attacker. Yet he remained a rotation piece. Mbaye even more so. Luis Enrique trusted a clear formula for the biggest games and stuck to it.

Dembele is the perfect example. The winger started just 10 league matches for the eventual French champions, who have doubled down on that philosophy this summer – stacking elite depth to keep their stars fresh for the sharp end of the Champions League.

Premier League pull and Liverpool’s wide puzzle

That stacked depth has created a bottleneck. And both Barcola and Mbaye can see it.

FourFourTwo understands that the pair are keen on moves to the Premier League, where they believe the pathway to regular minutes is clearer. Under Andoni Iraola at Liverpool, the competition for places remains fierce, but not as suffocating as it is at the Parc des Princes.

Liverpool’s rebuild on the flanks is already under way. So far, the only attacking arrival is Spanish winger Victor Munoz, signed to help absorb the shock of Salah’s exit. The right side of the front line, once owned by the Egyptian, is suddenly open for a new figurehead.

The left is another story. Liverpool are loaded there: Munoz, Rio Ngumoha, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz can all operate off that flank. It is crowded, dynamic and dangerous.

Which is why Mbaye’s profile matters. The Senegalese youngster offers a potential solution on the right, a natural fit in a zone that now defines Liverpool’s transition from the Salah era.

Whether Barcola joins him or not is now the question hanging over Anfield’s final weeks of the window.