Liverpool have been rather stuck in a game of transfer chicken with Paris Saint-Germain going back at least a month now, with the French club keenly aware of just how much the Reds need their so-called Mohamed Salah replacement and previous reports having them setting an eye-watering £145M (€170M) asking price for top target Bradley Barcola.
In the meantime, PSG have been out signing Barcola’s presumed replacements. The latest on that front saw them bring in winger Mika Godts from Ajax in a £47M (€55M) deal. They have also signed winger Maghnes Akliouche from Monaco and versatile forward Ferran Torres from Barcelona. Meanwhile, Barcola has two years left on his contract and will not renew.
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The question then has become who will blink first. Will it be Liverpool, who risk heading into the season short on wing options if time runs out leaving them without time to pivot to a different high level target. Or will it be PSG, who risk Liverpool moving on and them being stuck with a player who wants out and that they already appear to have replaced.
The latest out of France today from regarded PSG insiders suggests that it might just be PSG who blink, with suggestions they have already moved off that £145M asking price—with some speculation the asking price may have dropped to around £125 (€145M)—but that Liverpool are trying to push even lower. Previously, the Reds had a £100M (€117M) bid rejected.
Meanwhile, with Liverpool’s push to sign Ibrahim Mbaye from PSG also having proven difficult this month, there have been reports today of them moving on—and having their £50M bid for Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh rejected. Add it up, though, and you can at least see a path to all this panning out in a way that would leave Liverpool fans feeling happy.
On the other hand, Liverpool’s failures in the transfer market the past two summers have turned a title calibre squad into something thin and unbalanced, and it’s perhaps just as easy to imaging a path to all of this ending quite badly if the goal is to give Andoni Iraola a squad actually capable of competing. For the time being, we’ll cross our fingers and hope.
