Liverpool have reportedly taken a significant step closer to pulling off the prospective signing of Paris Saint-Germain winger Ibrahim Mbaye.
The Reds have been strongly linked with both the 18-year-old and his teammate Bradley Barcola as FSG seek to add wide attacking reinforcements in the final two weeks of the summer transfer window.
Both players were conspicuous by their absence from the PSG squad for the Trophée des Champions defeat to Lens on Sunday, with head coach Luis Enrique tetchily batting away post-match questions about the duo’s futures.
Liverpool reach agreement with Ibrahim Mbaye
On Monday evening, French reporter Fabrice Hawkins took to X to reveal that Liverpool have now agreed personal terms with Mbaye.
He posted: ‘Liverpool have reached an agreement with Ibrahim Mbaye. The two parties have agreed on the financial terms of a five-year contract. Mbaye has made his choice and does not wish to pursue interest from Bayer Leverkusen.’
In a subsequent post, he declared: ‘The Reds will now continue negotiations with Paris Saint-Germain in an attempt to complete a potential double deal [Mbaye and Barcola]. The two clubs still need to reach an agreement over the valuation of the two wingers. An agreement has yet to be reached.’
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How much could prospective double swoop cost Liverpool?
Both Mbaye and Barcola are now understood to have agreed personal terms over potential moves to Liverpool, so now it’s a case of whether the two clubs can shake hands on a fee for the two players.
The Reds appear to have been aided in their pursuit of the France international by PSG’s reported £20m reduction on his asking price, although he’d still be valued at a whopping £125m after that drop.
The Senegal winger is in a rather more moderate price range of around €50m (£42.8m, Sebastien Vidal) and would theoretically be the easier of the two to sign, if Richard Hughes manages to bring just one of them to Anfield.
It’d be quite an accomplishment for Liverpool’s sporting director to strike a double deal in the region of £170m for both forwards, especially at this late stage in the window, but there now seems genuine hope of at least one of them becoming a Reds player before the deadline two weeks from today.
Now that both players seem to be on board with potentially joining the Merseysiders, it’s over to the two clubs to reach a mutually satisfactory middle ground so that the proposed transfers could go through.
We’re confident that at least one of Barcola or Mbaye will come to Liverpool by the end of the month, and we wouldn’t rule out a double swoop either.