Liverpool Pursue PSG Starlet Ibrahim Mbaye for Winger Role
Liverpool’s search for the next great Anfield winger has reached Paris – and to one of the brightest teenagers in European football.
The club have explored the conditions of a deal for Paris Saint-Germain’s 18-year-old wide forward Ibrahim Mbaye, with the Senegal international understood to be keen on a move to Merseyside. He operates mainly off the right, the very stretch of turf that has belonged to Mohamed Salah for the best part of a decade.
Salah has gone. That vacancy is now the most sensitive position in Liverpool’s rebuild.
Five-winger plan under Iraola
Andoni Iraola has made it clear: his wide men will drive this new Liverpool. The flanks are not a detail of his system, they are the engine. That is why the club’s recruitment team have put wide attacking options at the top of their list in this window.
Liverpool are planning to finish the window with five wingers in the squad. One of those slots is ring-fenced for a younger player they can mould over time. Mbaye fits that profile almost perfectly – raw, explosive, already tested on the biggest stage, but still far from the finished product.
Victor Munoz has already arrived to bolster the attacking options, yet the club are not stopping there. They want depth, variety and, crucially, a succession plan on the right.
Mbaye and Barcola: parallel pursuits
Mbaye is not the only PSG winger on Liverpool’s radar. There is strong interest in Bradley Barcola as well, though no formal bid has gone in for either player.
The two pursuits run on separate tracks. Liverpool’s interest in Mbaye is completely independent of any potential move for Barcola, and it is possible Iraola could end up with Mbaye plus a more experienced wide option if the market breaks their way.
That is a big “if” in Barcola’s case. PSG’s current £145m valuation makes any deal for him extremely complicated. Mbaye, by contrast, represents the kind of targeted, developmental signing that aligns neatly with Liverpool’s stated plan for a younger fifth winger.
From Paris prospect to World Cup history-maker
Mbaye’s rise has been rapid.
He came through the PSG academy and made his senior debut in August 2024 as a 16-year-old, another in the long line of prodigies to emerge from the French champions’ production line. Born and raised in the French system, he represented France at youth level before committing his senior international future to Senegal.
That decision set up one of the defining moments of his young career.
In November 2025, he made his debut for Senegal. A year later, on the global stage, he wrote his name into the record books. At the 2026 World Cup, Mbaye became the youngest African ever to score at the tournament, finding the net at 18 years and 143 days in Senegal’s 3-1 defeat to France.
It was a bittersweet night – a loss to the country of his youth, but a landmark goal that announced him to the world.
Life after Salah
At Anfield, the context is clear. The right wing needs a new long-term owner.
Salah’s departure at the end of last season left more than a statistical hole. It altered the psychology of Liverpool’s attack. Opponents no longer face the same inevitable threat drifting in from that right channel. Iraola wants that fear back, even if it comes in a different form.
Mbaye is not Salah. He is 18, still learning, still shaping his game. But he is direct, comfortable wide on the right, and already hardened by World Cup pressure. In the eyes of Liverpool’s recruitment team, that combination is exactly what a modern superclub should be buying: potential with proof.
For now, Liverpool have only explored the terms of a deal. No formal offer, no agreement, no medical booked. Just serious interest in a teenager who has already made history.
If Mbaye does walk out at Anfield in red, he will not be asked to be the new Salah on day one. He will be the young winger in a five-man unit, the one earmarked for tomorrow.
The real question is how quickly tomorrow might arrive.
