Liverpool's Summer Rebuild: Mbaye's Potential Impact

Liverpool’s summer rebuild has moved slower than many expected, but there’s a growing sense that the pieces are starting to fall into place at Anfield.

Victor Munoz and Jeremy Jacquet arrived first, steady, sensible signings aimed at shoring up obvious gaps. Ronald Aruajo is expected to follow by the end of next week, another step in a methodical reshaping rather than the sweeping overhaul some supporters had braced for.

It’s not a revolution. Not yet. But it is a direction.

And now, Liverpool may be closing in on the kind of signing that changes the conversation.

Mbaye turns his head to Anfield

The transfer rumour mill around Liverpool has barely paused for breath this summer. Names come and go, links flare up and fade away, but Ibrahim Mbaye is one that refuses to disappear.

The 18-year-old Senegal international, currently at Paris Saint-Germain, is facing a very different landscape in Paris. With Maghnes Akliouche already through the door and Ferran Torres potentially on his way, Mbaye is staring at a sharp drop down the pecking order. For a teenager who has already tasted meaningful minutes for club and country in the 2025-26 season, that is a problem.

For PSG, it makes him expendable. For everyone else, it makes him available.

Plenty of clubs have taken notice. According to Football Insider, Bayer Leverkusen are pushing hard to agree terms with PSG. But the same report claims Mbaye has now set his sights on Liverpool, with the player described as “keen” to join Andoni Iraola’s side despite “growing interest from rival clubs”.

The suggestion is clear: Liverpool have turned his head.

After their interest became public, the prospect of Anfield, the Premier League, and a prominent role in a new-look Liverpool attack has reportedly become Mbaye’s preferred path. PSG, for their part, are said to be open to a departure, their attacking depth giving them the luxury of letting a highly rated teenager go.

Liverpool, aware of his situation and their own needs out wide, are now preparing an attempt to bring him in.

Life after Salah: the problem Liverpool must solve

Strip away the noise around Liverpool’s summer and one question remains: where do the Mohamed Salah goals come from now?

Since 2017, Salah has been the fixed point in Liverpool’s attack, the man everything bends around. Goals, assists, moments that decide seasons – he has been the constant. Removing that from any team leaves a void; removing it from Liverpool leaves a chasm.

There are candidates to step up. There always are at a club of this size. But last season’s performances did not deliver convincing evidence that anyone is ready, alone, to shoulder what Salah has carried for years.

That is where Mbaye fits into the picture.

He is not a like-for-like replacement. He cannot be. At 18, he is a natural right-winger with the profile and positional instincts to operate in Salah’s old lane, but Liverpool would be asking him to join a collective effort rather than to replicate a phenomenon.

What he does bring is timing. Mbaye already has an important season behind him with PSG and Senegal in 2025-26, a rarity at his age. He has played, contributed, and learned in high-pressure environments. That foundation makes the leap to Liverpool less of a gamble and more of a calculated move.

No one at Anfield will seriously expect him to match Salah’s 22 goal contributions in his first campaign. If Mbaye can deliver roughly half that, and if Liverpool’s other forwards respond by stretching their own numbers, the club edges closer to replacing the irreplaceable by committee.

That is the only realistic strategy. There will not be another Salah. Not in the same shape, not in the same volume. But Liverpool can build an attack where several players share the burden he once carried almost alone.

Mbaye, if this deal gets done, becomes a crucial part of that plan – a teenager with the chance to grow into the most demanding position in English football.

Liverpool wanted to plug gaps this summer. Now they have the opportunity to address the biggest one of all.