European football expert Julian Laurens feels Liverpool will have to add a third attacker if they sign Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye this summer.
The Reds are pushing hard to replace Mohamed Salah still this summer. Paris Saint-Germain’s Barcola is their preference, while team-mate Mbaye is also being watched ahead of a potential double deal,
But asked on Sky Sports (17:45, Tuesday, August 18) if Liverpool‘s transfer window will be complete if they sign Mbaye on top of Barcola, European expert Laurens suggested the club could also do with another striker.
“I still think that until [Hugo] Ekitike comes back from injury – it’s a long one, we’re not sure exactly when it will be – they probably need a back up to Alexander Isak. Especially if Cody Gakpo goes,” he said.
“You’re only left really with Isak as your nine. Ok, you could look at [Federico] Chiesa, you could look at maybe other options like a [Dominik] Szoboszlai as a false nine, or Curtis Jones as a false nine.
“But I still think they would need a backup striker there until Ekitike comes back.
“It could be a loan, it could be like the [Ronald] Araujo deal they did for the defence.
“Then also that midfield needs a bit of a rebuild, especially for the way Iraola wants to play, very different to Arne Slot. I’m not sure right now this midfield is exactly what he would want.”
Liverpool feel they can get double discount
Barcola himself is valued by PSG at £145million, so getting Mbaye on top of that would lead to Liverpool paying an enormous sum of money for two players.
However, there is a belief that Barcola’s price could be dropped to £125million and Mbaye’s as low as £30million, meaning together they’d command £155million.
Our friends at TEAMtalk have revealed that Liverpool have officials currently in Paris to try to finalise the signings.
There remains work to be done, with a gap in valuations currently, though the Reds are hopeful they can get the deals over the line.
Both Barcola and Mbaye have currently been frozen out by PSG while their futures are resolved, and that will give Liverpool hope that the French giants are willing to see them leave.
But as of now, it’s not clear exactly how close the Anfield outfit might be to their transfers. Should both sign, though, a permanent striker addition seems very unlikely, and it could be tough to find a useful loan option at this stage.
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