Ibrahim Mbaye Rejects Villa for Liverpool or City Move
Ibrahim Mbaye turns his back on Villa as Liverpool and City enter frame
Aston Villa thought they had their chance. An 18-year-old livewire from Paris Saint-Germain, already a senior international with Senegal, open to a move and available in a market where elite wide players cost a fortune.
Then Ibrahim Mbaye said no.
The teenager has cooled on a switch to Villa Park, with his camp now pushing for something very different: a move to Liverpool or Manchester City, two clubs who live at the sharp end of the European game and routinely contest the sport’s biggest prizes.
For Villa, it’s a harsh reminder of the new reality. For Liverpool and City, it’s another intriguing option in a window already shaped by high-end attacking targets.
Liverpool’s winger rebuild – and the Barcola obsession
Liverpool’s summer on the flanks has been shaped by one name above all: Bradley Barcola.
The PSG forward has emerged as their primary target out wide, and Liverpool are prepared to go hard to get him before the window shuts. The problem is the price. PSG have slapped a huge €170m (£145m) valuation on the France international, a figure that would test even the most ambitious recruitment plans.
Ben Jacobs reports that Liverpool, working with Barcola’s camp, will try to drag that figure down. Crucially, Barcola is understood to be keen on the move, which gives Liverpool leverage but not control. PSG, as ever, hold the contract and the cards.
This is not a simple one-in, one-out operation either. Liverpool have already brought in Victor Munoz, yet the wide department is in flux. Mohamed Salah has gone. Federico Chiesa has a genuine chance of leaving. If the Italian does depart, the club’s wing options would be stripped back to Rio Ngumoha, Cody Gakpo and Munoz, pending any Barcola breakthrough.
That is not the depth profile of a side that expects to go deep in multiple competitions. Which is why Liverpool are not ruling out signing two wingers in the same window.
Barcola is the headline. Mbaye could be the twist.
Mbaye’s PSG squeeze
Mbaye’s situation in Paris explains a lot about his stance.
At 18, he forced his way into a star-studded PSG squad last season, racking up 31 appearances in all competitions. That is no small feat in an attack that could already call on Ousmane Dembele, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Desire Doue and Barcola.
Luis Enrique also had Goncalo Ramos and Lee Kang-In at his disposal during the previous campaign, both of whom have since moved on to AC Milan and Atletico Madrid respectively. The churn in Paris is constant, the standards unrelenting.
Mbaye is right-footed and, across the 2025/26 season, he spent most of his time operating off the right flank. That puts him directly in the traffic of some of the game’s most gifted wide players, and the road is about to get even more congested.
PSG are planning to add Maghnes Akliouche from Monaco, another high-level attacking option. For Mbaye’s camp, the message is clear: minutes will be fought over, and development could stall.
TEAMtalk report that his representatives now believe a move away is the best route for his career. Not just any move, though.
Villa snubbed as eyes turn to the elite
Aston Villa entered the race and opened talks, sensing an opportunity to add a high-upside, Champions League-ready talent to Unai Emery’s squad. On paper, it made sense: a club on the rise, European football, a coach with a track record of improving players.
Mbaye and his camp have looked higher.
The 15-cap Senegal international has gone cold on Villa and is instead being actively offered to Liverpool and Manchester City. The thinking is blunt: this is the moment to land at a club that consistently competes for – and wins – the biggest trophies.
Graeme Bailey reports that both Liverpool and City hold an interest in Mbaye, but he stresses an important detail: the winger is not at the top of either club’s shortlist.
For Liverpool, that status belongs to Barcola. For City, Mbaye is another option in a market they scan relentlessly, not a must-have.
Yet that doesn’t close the door. It just shapes how it might open.
Could Mbaye follow Barcola to Anfield?
Bailey notes that Liverpool’s pursuit of Mbaye would likely be as well as Barcola, not instead of him. That is a crucial distinction. It frames Mbaye not as a fallback plan if PSG refuse to budge on Barcola’s price, but as a complementary play if Liverpool reshape their wing department more aggressively.
That scenario hinges on outgoings. Chiesa, already mentioned as a possible departure, is the most obvious domino. Move him on, and the numbers on the flanks change again. The club would then be looking at a group built around Gakpo, Munoz, Ngumoha – and potentially two major additions.
For an 18-year-old like Mbaye, the appeal is obvious: a high-intensity, front-foot side, a league that suits direct, explosive wide players, and a pathway that has recently moved on from one of the greatest right-sided forwards of the modern era in Salah.
City, for their part, offer something different: a more intricate, possession-dominant environment where wide players are often asked to invert, combine and think as much as they dribble. Pep Guardiola’s squad is stacked, but the club never stop planning two or three windows ahead.
Mbaye’s camp know this. The question is whether either club sees him as a now signing or a next signing.
For PSG, for Liverpool, for City – and for an ambitious teenager from Senegal – the next few weeks will show who truly believes he belongs at the very top.
