Liverpool's Urgent Transfer Dilemma: The Case for Iliman Ndiaye

Liverpool are running out of runway.

The 2025-26 summer window is edging towards its close, the squad still looks light in key areas, and the sense around Anfield is simple: it’s now or never for some of these deals.

Andoni Iraola has three new faces through the door, but nobody inside the club is pretending that’s enough to launch a serious Premier League title push. Another three or four signings feel like a necessity, not a luxury. With the clock ticking, Iraola and sporting director Richard Hughes can’t afford another slow week.

They look like they’ve finally hit the accelerator.

Liverpool test the Merseyside fault line

Liverpool’s attack needs surgery, not a sticking plaster.

Mohamed Salah has gone. Hugo Ekitike is sidelined with injury. What’s left is a front line short on both depth and proven end product. Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye are currently the closest to joining, but neither deal is over the line – no agreement on fees, no agreement on personal terms. Two active pursuits, zero guarantees.

Liverpool already learned that lesson the hard way with Yan Diomande earlier in the summer. They can’t walk into the final weeks of the window banking on just one or two targets. They need alternatives, pressure points, leverage.

That’s where Iliman Ndiaye comes in – and where the story gets really interesting.

Caught Offside report that Liverpool have held “direct talks” with the representatives of the Everton forward over a possible move. The outlet adds that industry sources consider Liverpool’s interest “genuine”, while stressing how unusual it is for the Anfield club to even attempt business with their neighbours across Stanley Park.

The suggestion is clear: either Liverpool are genuinely worried about landing Barcola, or they’re using Ndiaye as a way to turn the screw on PSG and drag down their asking price for a player who wants out. The motives remain unconfirmed, but the talks are said to be real – and that alone opens up the possibility of something far more concrete.

Liverpool and Everton. Same player. Same negotiation table. It hardly ever happens. That’s why this link has jolted the window to life.

A £75m flashpoint

For any deal to move beyond the hypothetical, Everton would have to agree to sell their star man to their fiercest rivals. That only happens at a price they simply cannot refuse.

Caught Offside claim Everton have set a £75 million valuation for the Senegal international. The expectation is that Liverpool, as a direct rival, would face an even steeper demand.

Ndiaye’s appeal is obvious from a footballing standpoint. He can operate off either flank or as a No.10, a flexible attacker who already knows the Premier League inside out. That profile fits neatly into Iraola’s high-energy, fluid system. He wouldn’t need a long bedding-in period; he knows the tempo, the grounds, the pressure.

He is not Salah – nobody at Liverpool is pretending otherwise – but he is productive. Nine goal contributions last season offer a platform rather than a finished article, yet they hint at a player still climbing towards his peak at 26.

That age, and that upside, explain why Liverpool are far from alone in the chase. Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have all been credited with interest and, if David Moyes and Everton push the price north of £100 million, Liverpool would struggle to justify entering that kind of bidding war.

Right now, the numbers are the obstacle. The intrigue lies in the fact Liverpool are even in the conversation.

A window-defining gamble?

The idea of Ndiaye in red is, for many Liverpool supporters, almost unthinkable given the Merseyside divide. That’s exactly why it feels so significant that talks with his camp have taken place at all.

If Everton refuse to budge on a huge fee, the move dies quickly. If the asking price softens or the market shifts, Liverpool suddenly have a chance to pull off one of the most audacious transfers of the summer.

With the window shrinking by the day and the forward line still missing a marquee addition, the question now is blunt: do Liverpool push this rivalry to the limit to get the attacker Iraola needs, or watch a player of Ndiaye’s calibre head to a different contender?