Liverpool Intensify Pursuit of PSG's Barcola and Mbaye
Liverpool have stepped up their pursuit of Paris Saint-Germain pair Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye, with fresh bids reportedly lodged for both players as the Premier League club continues its aggressive summer rebuild.
Liverpool push again for Barcola and Mbaye
Having already moved quickly to reshape their defence and attack with three early signings – centre-back Jeremy Jacquet from Stade Rennais for £55m, winger Victor Munoz from Osasuna for £34.5m, and Ronald Araujo on loan from Barcelona – Liverpool are now zeroing in on two more marquee additions from Paris.
Barcola has been on Liverpool’s radar for months. Talks have rumbled on in the background, with the main sticking point a sizeable gap between PSG’s valuation and what the Reds are willing to pay.
Transfer reporter Fabrizio Romano underlined how central Barcola is to Liverpool’s plans, explaining on his YouTube channel last week that the France international remains a live target despite previous suggestions he was “untouchable” in Paris. Romano stressed that Liverpool are “still trying” to strike a deal, that an agreement on personal terms with the player is already in place, and that the clubs remain in constant contact as negotiations continue.
The deal, as he put it, “is alive”.
Enrique’s pointed message and PSG stance
Luis Enrique has not named Barcola directly, but his recent comments have done little to cool the speculation. Speaking over the weekend, the PSG head coach talked about the need for a squad fully committed to the club’s project.
“We are a very young, very ambitious team. It is important for us to make changes and look for players who enjoy playing our way and who love playing for PSG,” he said. “When a player doesn’t want to come here, or doesn’t have a smile on their face about being here, it is better to find another solution.”
That line about “another solution” will not have gone unnoticed on Merseyside.
Enrique then left both Barcola and Mbaye out of PSG’s Trophée des Champions defeat to Lens on Sunday. After the match, he declined to go into detail, saying only: “I’ll talk about the situation after the transfer window has passed.”
The omissions only fuelled the sense that something is moving behind the scenes.
Price tag problem – but Liverpool test PSG resolve
PSG’s demands are steep. The French champions value Barcola at around £130m and Mbaye at roughly £42m, taking the combined price to an eye-watering £172m. That figure represents the major obstacle to any double deal and would require Liverpool to push their spending to a new level.
Even so, Liverpool are not backing away.
A prominent X account with more than 700,000 followers, which claims to have a team of “five elite reporters”, reported on Monday evening that Liverpool had submitted “fresh new bids” for both Barcola and Mbaye at around 5pm. The account described it as a “double bomb”, adding that sources close to the situation believe Liverpool are confident of getting Barcola over the line and are “quietly hopeful” that their offer for Mbaye will also be accepted.
If PSG hold firm on their £172m valuation, Liverpool face a decisive call: stretch their budget to land two major targets from Paris, or walk away and pivot late in the window.
Right now, they are still at the table – and pushing.
