Liverpool's First Move for Ibrahim Mbaye as Salah Successor
Liverpool’s summer rebuild has been noisy, messy and, so far, incomplete. Three signings are already through the door, but the squad that limped through last season still looks short in key areas. The most glaring hole? The right flank once owned by Mohamed Salah.
For weeks, Liverpool have been linked with a carousel of names. Plenty of rumours, little resolution. The attack has remained the big red warning light on the dashboard, with no like-for-like successor to the club’s former talisman.
That may be about to shift.
First bid lined up for Mbaye
“Liverpool should send a first offer to Paris for Ibrahim Mbaye in the coming days,” reporter Loic Tanzi revealed on his personal X account, signalling the first concrete move in a chase that has been bubbling under the surface.
Mbaye is currently on the books at Paris Saint-Germain, and the French champions are understood to be open to moving him on. That alone makes him accessible. His profile makes him intriguing.
He is 18. A natural right-winger. Direct, productive and already operating on the international stage with Senegal.
Liverpool cannot replace Salah in any meaningful, like-for-like sense. The Egyptian King dragged games towards him for years, his goals and presence often the difference between one point and three. Even in a season where he never truly caught fire, he still finished with 22 goal contributions across all competitions. That output does not just vanish without leaving a crater.
Liverpool have options who can operate on the right – Victor Munoz, Federico Chiesa and Jeremie Frimpong have all been mentioned as possibilities for that channel. But these are solutions that shuffle the deck. What Liverpool lack is a specialist. A long-term right-sided attacker who actually lives in that space.
Mbaye fits that bill.
Why Mbaye makes sense for Liverpool
On paper, Liverpool’s depth chart doesn’t look disastrous. In reality, last season exposed just how thin the ice is once you scratch beyond the headline names. Performances dipped, intensity dropped, and the bench rarely changed the temperature of big games. This is not a squad ready to go stride for stride in a title race.
A move for Mbaye would not fix everything. It would, however, push the club in the right direction.
Despite his age, the winger has already scored 19 goals in his career and earned 15 caps for Senegal. Four goals at senior international level at 18 is not a guarantee of stardom, but it is a loud marker of his maturity and composure in serious environments.
There is also a strategic twist that suits Liverpool perfectly. By the time Mbaye would need to be formally registered in Liverpool’s Premier League squad lists, he will qualify as homegrown. That matters. Squad registration rules have become one of the quiet headaches at Anfield, restricting how aggressively they can stockpile overseas talent.
Sign a teenager with senior experience, high upside, and a pathway to homegrown status, and you solve two problems at once: you add depth and you ease a structural constraint.
Then there is PSG’s stance. The French club want to move him on. That shifts the dynamic firmly in Liverpool’s favour when it comes to fee and negotiations. A talented, natural right-winger, unwanted by his current club, available at 18 with international pedigree and homegrown potential – in a market this inflated, that is close to a perfect storm.
Liverpool still need more than one signing to return to the level they demand of themselves. But if they get Ibrahim Mbaye over the line, they won’t just be ticking a box on a depth chart. They’ll be taking a calculated swing at their next long-term weapon on the right – and a first real step towards life after Salah.
