Andoni Iraola held his pre-match press conference ahead of Liverpool’s clash with Nottingham Forest this week, and unsurprisingly, the Reds’ transfer business dominated the agenda.
The Spaniard didn’t address Bradley Barcola by name, but confirmed the club are working on wing reinforcements, saying “we are trying to sign” a winger. He added: “I hope we can have good news soon but we are still not there”.
That reticence hasn’t stopped the Barcola deal moving in the background, with PSG and Liverpool now believed to have settled on a package worth £120m in total – £100m guaranteed plus a further £20m in performance-related add-ons, bringing to an end a saga that had rumbled on for the majority of the summer.
Iraola was more forthcoming on what it could mean for Cody Gakpo, admitting he wants to keep the “very influential” forward but conceding “I cannot guarantee anything” amid interest from Tottenham and Manchester City.
On the club’s overall approach to the closing days of the window, Iraola struck a patient tone.
“We have to be patient, even myself, and then we will know. I will be comfortable [on deadline day], when they say this is who we are and this is the options we have. Right now, we don’t know. I have in my head, what I want.”
But Barcola getting over the line was never going to be the full story of Liverpool’s business at the top end of the pitch. The Reds have made no secret of the fact they want to add a second winger before the window shuts, viewing it as the final piece before they’ll sanction Gakpo’s departure. Previously, that pursuit had one name written all over it: Yankuba Minteh.
Liverpool have gone back to Brighton twice for Minteh already this window, with an opening offer of £50m knocked back before a revised £60m bid met the same fate. The Seagulls have made their position clear throughout, holding firm at a valuation closer to £70m and showing little appetite to do business below that mark with the clock running down.
Now, according to a new update from Senegalese journalist Khadim Diakhaté (via Sport Witness), that pursuit is off entirely. Liverpool have shifted their full attention to Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr instead, and are reportedly readying a fresh offer for the 28-year-old having seen an opening bid of £50m turned away.
On paper, it’s a very different profile to the one Liverpool were chasing. Sarr, at 28, is the finished article compared to Minteh, 22, and his numbers reflect a far longer track record at the top level. Across his career, Sarr has racked up 370 appearances, 95 goals and 59 assists, spells that have taken in Metz, Rennes, Watford and now Palace, where he’s become one of the Premier League’s most dangerous wide forwards over the past two seasons.
Minteh, by contrast, has 134 career games to his name with 27 goals and 20 assists, numbers that speak to a player still very much on the way up rather than at his peak. He’s been one of the Premier League’s most exciting young wingers since arriving at Brighton, prized for his directness and end product, and it’s precisely that ceiling that had made him Liverpool’s first choice.
The trade-off for Iraola’s side is fairly straightforward: Sarr offers proven Premier League quality and experience right away, while Minteh represented more of a long-term punt on a player yet to hit his prime – and one who will not be fully fit until December.
With Brighton unmoved on their asking price and the deadline closing in, it appears Liverpool have decided a ready-made option is the safer bet – even if it means paying up for a player six years Minteh’s senior.
