Liverpool's Winger Hunt: Minteh and Mbaye Transfer Updates
Liverpool’s winger hunt is turning into one of the summer’s most tangled transfer plots – and patience is starting to fray on all sides.
Liverpool reload out wide after Salah exit
Mohamed Salah’s surprise move to Trabzonspor has forced Liverpool to rip up their attacking plans late in the window. The brief is clear now: wide players, and fast.
Victor Munoz has already arrived from Osasuna, the first piece of a new-look front line. The next target appears just as clear. Liverpool are pushing hard for Yankuba Minteh, but Brighton are making them fight for it.
Gambian journalist Foday Manneh reported on Friday that Brighton have already rejected two Liverpool bids for Minteh, including an opening offer of £50m. Even so, both clubs are described as optimistic that they will eventually find common ground.
Manneh wrote on X that a second Liverpool bid had been turned down, but that talks remain active and a deal is still very much on the table.
Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano then backed up that version of events. He added a key detail: Minteh and Liverpool already have what he called a “broad verbal agreement” on personal terms, with the winger having given his approval to the project at Anfield. Brighton, though, have knocked back a £60m bid and are holding their line for now.
The pressure is rising. The clock is ticking. And Liverpool’s other winger targets are watching closely.
Mbaye and Barcola grow restless
Any breakthrough for Minteh could have a direct impact on Liverpool’s pursuit of Ibrahim Mbaye, with the PSG winger no longer prepared to wait indefinitely.
According to French outlet L’Equipe, relayed by Get French Football News, the slow grind of negotiations is starting to change Mbaye’s stance on a move to Anfield. The report states that both Mbaye and his PSG teammate Bradley Barcola – also on Liverpool’s radar – feel their transfer sagas have dragged on too long.
The frustration has already had consequences. Neither Mbaye nor Barcola is expected to be included in Luis Enrique’s travelling squad for PSG’s Ligue 1 opener against Rennes, underlining how unsettled their situations have become.
Talks between PSG and Liverpool for the France international Barcola are described as “progressing slowly”. For Mbaye, the discussions are moving even more sluggishly. With only ten days left in the window, L’Equipe report that Mbaye is now ready to look at other clubs if Liverpool do not accelerate their efforts.
A €20m stand-off
The core problem is simple: price.
RMC Sport, also cited in the same report, claim there is a €20m gap between Liverpool and PSG over Mbaye’s valuation. PSG are holding out for around €70m. Liverpool, for now, are only prepared to go to €50m.
That standoff leaves Liverpool juggling two major winger pursuits at once: one with Brighton, where personal terms are broadly agreed but the fee is not, and another with PSG, where the fee is miles apart and the player is running out of patience.
With Salah gone, the stakes for Liverpool’s season are obvious. The question now is just as stark: who blinks first – the selling clubs, or a Liverpool hierarchy trying to rebuild their attack without losing control of the market?
