Romano: Ibrahim Mbaye has chosen Liverpool

Liverpool are shopping for wingers — plural — and after weeks of quiet, the summer has suddenly found a gear. Fabrizio Romano reports that Ibrahim Mbaye, the 18-year-old Paris Saint-Germain forward, has made Anfield his preferred destination.

The need is obvious. Mohamed Salah's departure stripped the squad of its most reliable source of output from wide areas, and that was in a season where the Egyptian was some way short of his own standards. Victor Munoz has already arrived, but nobody at the club ever pretended one signing would be enough.

Cody Gakpo's future is unresolved too, with Tottenham circling and Liverpool understood to be open to a sale north of £70 million. Subtract Salah, potentially subtract Gakpo, and the maths behind a double swoop for Bradley Barcola and Mbaye starts to look less like ambition and more like necessity.

Mendes contact, Bundesliga rebuffed

Fabrice Hawkins broke the story on Tuesday evening, reporting that Liverpool were pushing hard for Mbaye. Romano then added the detail that matters most to supporters: the player's own preference.

“Liverpool have made contact with Ibrahim Mbaye's new agent Jorge Mendes. Mbaye also has proposals from Bundesliga clubs — giving priority to the Liverpool project.”

That last phrase is the one to hold on to. Liverpool have not agreed anything with PSG, and the French champions have shown this window that they are in no hurry to be helpful. But a teenager of this calibre turning down German suitors because he likes the plan being sold to him is the kind of soft power the Reds have not always enjoyed lately.

It has been a slow, occasionally frustrating summer on Merseyside. On this evidence, it is about to get very busy indeed.