Ibrahim Mbaye: Liverpool's Successor to Mohamed Salah
Liverpool’s Salah succession plan may finally have a face. And it belongs to an 18-year-old from Senegal.
Life After the King of Anfield
Mohamed Salah’s exit this summer closed a monumental chapter at Anfield. Goals, trophies, records – he didn’t just define an era, he dragged Liverpool into it. The obvious next step should have been clear: replace him, or at least sign someone who can grow into that role.
That hasn’t happened.
The new season is less than three weeks away and Liverpool still do not have a natural right-winger in the squad. Not one. The gap on that flank is as glaring as the No.11 shirt now vacated.
Jeremie Frimpong offers attacking thrust, but he’s a wing-back by trade and, with Conor Bradley injured, he’s needed more at right-back than in Salah’s old territory. Bradley Barcola has been linked and his name excites, yet he operates on the opposite side. None of this solves the right-wing problem.
The question has lingered all summer: who actually starts there when the season begins?
Enter Ibrahim Mbaye
On Tuesday night, a name finally cut through the noise.
Reports emerged that Liverpool want Ibrahim Mbaye and that talks are expected to start soon. Fabrice Hawkins reported genuine interest from the club, while Fabrizio Romano indicated that the player is keen on the move.
This isn’t just another youngster being scouted. This is being framed as the long-term heir to Salah.
Mbaye is only 18. He is not a plug-and-play replacement, not someone you throw straight into the Premier League and expect to mirror Salah’s numbers. But Liverpool are clearly looking beyond the next month or two. They are searching for someone who can grow into the role, not just fill it.
And Mbaye fits that brief.
A Rare Profile in a Thin Market
The right-wing market is, bluntly, a mess. Established, elite options are scarce and wildly expensive. Clubs are clinging to their difference-makers. Anyone remotely close to Salah’s level is either unattainable or already spoken for.
That’s why Mbaye stands out.
He carries the kind of raw, high-ceiling talent that clubs at Liverpool’s level now have to identify early. The belief around him is not that he might become “useful”, but that he has the tools to become a genuine world-beater if his development tracks the way many expect.
Liverpool know there are not many wide forwards on the right who can realistically be spoken about in those terms. When one appears on the radar, you move.
The First Real Shot at a True Successor
This potential deal would not instantly solve the opening-day selection headache on the right. It would not erase the reality that Liverpool go into the new campaign without a proven Salah replacement.
What it could do is something more important for the long term: give the club a credible shot at discovering their next talisman on that flank.
Mbaye will need time. He will need patience, coaching, and a clear pathway. But if he can knit his talent together at Anfield, if the flashes become consistency, Liverpool might not just be signing another winger.
They might be securing the first serious contender to inherit Salah’s throne.
