Liverpool's Plan for Salah Succession: Ibrahim Mbaye

Liverpool’s Salah succession plan may finally be moving from theory to action – and it has an 18-year-old at its heart.

Liverpool line up first move for Ibrahim Mbaye

Liverpool’s summer has been heavy on links and light on resolution. A poor campaign forced a reset, three signings have arrived, but the squad still looks short of the depth and edge needed to chase major trophies again.

The most glaring hole is obvious. Mohamed Salah has not been replaced.

The club have options who can operate off the right – Victor Munoz, Federico Chiesa, Jeremie Frimpong – but none of them is a like-for-like heir to the “Egyptian King”, whose output has underpinned Liverpool’s success for years. Even in a below-par season, Salah still produced 22 goal contributions across all competitions. That is the size of the void Liverpool are trying to fill.

Now, the picture is starting to sharpen.

“Liverpool should send a first offer to Paris for Ibrahim Mbaye in the coming days,” reported Loic Tanzi on his personal X account, as the Anfield recruitment drive finally looks ready to tackle the frontline.

An 18-year-old with numbers – and timing – on his side

On paper, Liverpool’s squad carries plenty of quality. On the pitch last season, too many fell short. The bench looked thin, the drop-off from starters to backups too steep for a team with title ambitions.

A move for Mbaye would not solve everything. But it would be a bold stride in the right direction.

At just 18, the winger already has 19 career goals to his name and has broken into the Senegal national team, earning 15 caps and scoring four times. Those numbers hint at something more than raw potential; they point to a young forward who already knows how to carry responsibility.

That maturity is part of the attraction. So is the timing.

Because of his age, by the time Mbaye needs to be formally registered in Liverpool’s Premier League squad, he will qualify as homegrown – a crucial detail for a club wrestling with squad registration limits and trying to refresh without clogging up non-homegrown slots.

Then comes the market angle. Paris Saint-Germain are understood to be willing to move him on. A highly rated, natural right-winger, international experience under his belt, available from a club that wants to offload him – the profile almost sells itself.

Liverpool cannot clone Salah. They know that. But in Ibrahim Mbaye, they see something else: a chance to start writing the next chapter on the right flank, before the story there runs out of pages.