Aston Villa Hijack Liverpool’s Move for Ibrahim Mbaye
Aston Villa hijack Liverpool’s long-term move for PSG starlet Ibrahim Mbaye
Liverpool spent the summer keeping Ibrahim Mbaye warm as a backup plan. Aston Villa have just walked off with him.
While Anfield’s attention locked on Bradley Barcola, Paris Saint-Germain’s 18-year-old Senegalese winger was the safety net – the “in case it all collapses” option. Liverpool tracked him for months, ready to act if their £100 million move for Barcola hit trouble.
Instead, the Barcola deal was finally green-lit on Thursday, and the door swung open. Villa burst through it.
Villa strike as Liverpool look elsewhere
With Liverpool cleared to push ahead on Barcola’s £100 million switch to Merseyside, Mbaye suddenly became available. Villa moved instantly.
Backed by a wave of big-money exits – Ollie Watkins, Ezri Konsa and others sold on – the Birmingham club agreed a €55 million ($64 million) fee with PSG, landing a player Liverpool had followed closely but never fully met the price for.
It’s a sharp twist. Barcola’s move to Liverpool still isn’t official, with the forward yet to complete his medical and no formal announcement made. If anything late derails that transfer, Liverpool have already watched one carefully-scouted alternative disappear to a domestic rival.
Valuation gap costs Liverpool
The Mbaye chase always had a familiar sticking point: price.
RMC Sport reported last week that Liverpool and PSG were far apart on Mbaye’s valuation, mirroring the tension around Barcola. PSG wanted closer to £60 million ($82 million). Liverpool saw him as a £43 million ($59 million) player.
The final figure? €55 million ($64 million) to Aston Villa – much nearer Liverpool’s internal valuation than PSG’s original stance, but not close enough for the Reds to pull the trigger before Villa arrived.
David Ornstein of The Athletic confirmed on Friday that Villa had reached an agreement with PSG. The club had been monitoring Mbaye since January, but for most of the year they looked like distant outsiders, lurking behind the heavyweight interest from Liverpool.
They’re outsiders no more.
From Versailles to Paris – and now the Premier League
Mbaye’s rise has been rapid and ruthless.
He joined PSG in 2018 at the age of 10 from FC Versailles 78, the same youth club that once fielded Thierry Henry before his move to Monaco. From there, Mbaye climbed through the ranks and broke into Luis Enrique’s first team in 2024.
By 16, he had become the youngest player ever to start a competitive match for PSG. Last season he made 39 appearances for the two-time reigning Champions League winners, carving out a role as a lively, inventive right-winger in a squad stacked with attacking talent.
His progress hasn’t been limited to club football. Mbaye featured as a rotation option for Senegal at the 2026 World Cup, announcing himself on the biggest stage with a goal against France in the group phase.
When PSG left him out of the squad for their opening Ligue 1 game amid growing transfer noise, the message was clear: a move was coming. Few expected it to be Villa who won the race.
A new face in Villa’s radical rebuild
This is not a quiet summer at Villa Park. It’s a reset.
Fresh from lifting the 2026 Europa League, Villa have torn into their squad, moving on a string of established names. Rogers has gone to Manchester City, Konsa to Arsenal, Watkins to Al Hilal, Youri Tielemans to Manchester United, Emiliano Martinez to Chelsea, Lucas Digne to PSG, with Tammy Abraham also likely to depart for Ipswich Town.
In their place, a new core is forming: Jordi Manzambi from Freiburg, Alejandro Garnacho from Chelsea, Zion Suzuki from Parma, Joao Gomes from Wolves, Matteo Ruggeri from Atletico Madrid, Leon Goretzka from Bayern Munich, Aaron Wan-Bissaka from West Ham, and others.
Now Mbaye joins that list – not just another signing, but a statement. A teenage Champions League winner, a World Cup goalscorer, and a player Liverpool had lined up as a strategic option, choosing Villa as his Premier League landing spot.
Liverpool may yet unveil Barcola as the headline act of their summer. But as the window closes, one question lingers: in a few years’ time, will Mbaye at Villa be the one that got away?
