Liverpool's Dual Transfer Strategy: Now and Future

Liverpool are moving on two transfer timelines at once – the frantic now, and a carefully plotted future.

While Anfield waits for official word on Bradley Barcola, another long-term attacking deal is already in place. According to Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, Liverpool have reached an agreement to sign St Etienne striker Djylian N'Guessan, with the teenager scheduled to arrive in the summer of 2027.

The fee remains under wraps, but Romano reports that an agreement is complete with both club and player. N'Guessan has authorisation to undergo a medical, locking in a move that will not actually see him pull on a Liverpool shirt for almost three years.

It fits a pattern. Liverpool have already lined up Genk goalkeeper Lucca Brughmans in a deal worth €35 million, with the highly rated youngster also joining next summer rather than immediately. The club are clearly stockpiling talent for the next cycle while still trying to sharpen the current squad.

Supporters, though, are living in the present. With the window ticking down and the Barcola deal still awaiting formal confirmation, many will want at least one more first-team-ready forward through the door before deadline day slams shut.

Who is Djylian N'Guessan?

N'Guessan only turned 18 recently, but St Etienne have already pushed him towards senior football. The centre-forward, who can also operate from wide areas, has made 13 first-team appearances, several of them during the 2024-25 campaign.

Most of his minutes, though, have come with Saint Etienne's B team and under-19 side, where he has been developed carefully rather than thrown in. Internationally, he is capped up to under-20 level for his country, another marker of how highly he is regarded.

For Liverpool, this is a bet on what he might become, not what he is now. For N'Guessan, staying in France for the next few years could prove crucial, offering regular football and a clearer development path than an early leap into the Premier League.

Liverpool’s short-term business will dominate the noise until the window closes. But deals like N'Guessan and Brughmans hint at something else: a club trying to make sure that when this team evolves again, the next generation is already on the way.