Liverpool Ready to Pay £70m for an Injured Minteh as They Hedge Their Bets on Salah's Successor

Liverpool are prepared to pay Brighton around £70m for a winger who will not be fit to play for two to three months, according to CaughtOffside. Talks over Yankuba Minteh remain live despite the 22-year-old's injury setback, with the Reds treating him not as an emergency fix but as the long-term heir to Mohamed Salah's vacated right-wing spot.

The pursuit is unfolding at the same time as Liverpool have reopened negotiations with Paris Saint-Germain for Bradley Barcola, a parallel move that raises an obvious question: how many expensive right-sided attackers does one club need in a single window?

Why Liverpool still want an injured Minteh

Salah's exit left a hole on Liverpool's right flank that Andoni Iraola's Brighton side, ironically, may end up filling. Minteh's left-footed profile, pace and habit of cutting in from wide areas make him a stylistic echo of the player he would eventually replace, and CaughtOffside reports that talks between the two clubs remain ongoing despite his fitness concerns.

A long-term bet, not a quick fix

The Gambia international is currently expected to need another two to three months before he is fully match-fit, per the same report. That timeline would push his Liverpool debut into the autumn at the earliest, an unusual proposition for a club that also needs attacking reinforcements immediately for the start of the season.

Liverpool's willingness to look past that is telling. At 22, Minteh has time on his side, and if the club's medical staff are confident in a full recovery, his injury alone should not be a dealbreaker.

• Age: 22
• Position: Right winger, left-footed
• Expected return: Two to three months, per CaughtOffside

Brighton's price stands firm despite the risk

Brighton have already rejected two Liverpool bids and are showing little sign of budging. The Seagulls turned down an improved £60m offer having already knocked back £50m, and are now holding out for closer to £70m, according to Sky Sports reporting relayed by CaughtOffside.

A range, not a contradiction, on his return date

There is some variation in the reported timeline for Minteh's recovery. Sky Sports has suggested he could be fit again by around October, while Florian Plettenberg's two-to-three-month estimate, cited by CaughtOffside, points to a similar window. Readers should treat these as broadly consistent estimates rather than clashing accounts, both place his return somewhere in the early autumn.

Liverpool's interest has not cooled despite that timeline. talkSPORT reporting, also referenced by CaughtOffside, suggests the club are weighing one final bid that would move closer to Brighton's £70m valuation.

The Barcola factor: is this a two-winger gamble?

While the Minteh talks continue, Liverpool have simultaneously reignited a separate pursuit of Barcola. Sources have told ESPN that Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool restarted discussions over the Frenchman's transfer this week.

PSG lower their asking price

The renewed talks follow a significant shift in PSG's stance. CaughtOffside reports that PSG have finally agreed to lower their asking price for Barcola to around €140m, opening a route to a deal that had previously stalled.

Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool restarted discussions over the transfer of Bradley Barcola on Tuesday, sources have told ESPN.

Running both deals at once is a striking approach for a club already committing £70m to an injured player. It suggests Liverpool are either hedging against the risk that Minteh's recovery drags on, or building genuine squad depth on the right in the knowledge that Salah's output cannot be replaced by a single signing.

Verdict: smart succession planning or deadline-week overreach?

There is a reasonable case for patience here. Minteh is 22, left-footed, direct, and fits the profile Liverpool lost when Salah left. Paying a premium now to secure a player for the next five or six years is defensible business if the medical assessment checks out, even with a delayed start.

Where the risk really sits

The bigger exposure is not the injury itself but the price attached to it. £70m for a winger who cannot play until October is a significant outlay before a ball is kicked, and doing so while simultaneously chasing a €140m deal for Barcola compounds the financial and squad-planning risk. Two expensive right-sided forwards signed in the same window, one injured and one adapting to a new league, is a lot to absorb for a squad also trying to compete on multiple fronts this season.

Whether this reads as calculated succession planning or deadline-week panic spending will likely depend on how quickly Minteh returns to full fitness and how Barcola settles if that deal is completed.

What happens next

Liverpool are reportedly considering one final improved bid to meet Brighton's £70m valuation for Minteh, with talks described as ongoing rather than concluded. Brighton's resolve so far suggests they are unlikely to move significantly below that figure, injury or no injury.

On the Barcola front, the reopened talks and PSG's reduced €140m asking price make a breakthrough more plausible before the transfer deadline, though nothing has been finalised. If both deals go through, Liverpool will enter the season with two new right-sided attacking options, one sidelined until the autumn and one bedding into a new club, leaving Iraola and the club's medical staff carrying much of the short-term burden while supporters wait to see who actually fills Salah's boots first.