Liverpool's Transfer Strategy: Focus on Wingers and Endrick
Liverpool’s summer transfer plan has taken another twist – and this time it involves a firm “no” from Real Madrid.
The Anfield hierarchy are pushing hard to reshape their forward line before the window closes, with two new wingers still the priority. PSG’s Bradley Barcola remains the headline target, and Liverpool have already thrashed out personal terms with the 21-year-old.
For weeks, it looked like Barcola would be followed by his PSG teammate Ibrahim Mbaye. He, too, has agreed personal terms with Liverpool, but the deal has hit a wall. PSG want around €70m. Liverpool, according to French journalist Fabrice Hawkins, are refusing to go beyond €50m. That gap has forced FSG to look elsewhere.
The focus has swung to Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh. Liverpool now see the Gambian as the second wide man to arrive alongside Barcola. Two bids have gone in, the latest worth £60m. Brighton have resisted so far, yet with Minteh already agreeing personal terms, there’s a growing belief that a third offer in the £65m–£70m range will finally crack Brighton’s resolve.
While the winger chase rumbles on, Liverpool have quietly explored a different kind of signing: a centre-forward.
Liverpool test Real Madrid’s resolve over Endrick
With Alexander Isak the only fit senior striker available to Andoni Iraola and Hugo Ekitike sidelined by a ruptured Achilles until around the turn of the year, Liverpool have sounded out opportunities through the middle as well as out wide.
That search has led them to one of the most closely watched young forwards in Europe: Real Madrid’s Brazilian talent Endrick.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano revealed that Liverpool picked up the phone to Madrid to ask about a deal for Endrick. They explored both a loan with a buy option and a straight permanent transfer built around a major proposal.
They were not alone. Roma and AC Milan had already contacted the player’s camp in recent days to check whether a loan move could be on the table. Aston Villa also called Madrid around two weeks ago.
Each time, the response from the Bernabeu was identical. No chance.
Romano detailed how Real Madrid, led by president Florentino Perez and coach Jose Mourinho, have decided to keep Endrick at the club. They see him staying, wearing the No. 9 shirt, and fighting for his place rather than heading out again after last season’s loan at Lyon.
“As of today,” Romano stressed, there is “nothing in terms of chances” for Liverpool or anyone else. Madrid do not want him to leave now.
Could that stance change? Only if the season takes a very different turn. Romano suggested that if Endrick is not playing regularly by late December, around Christmas, Madrid may be more open to revisiting a loan move, similar to the Lyon arrangement.
For the moment, though, the door is closed. Endrick stays put, determined to make his mark in Madrid, while Liverpool turn back to the winger market and the looming question that now defines their window: can they land Barcola and Minteh in time?
