Liverpool Signs N’Guessan for Future Rebuild
Liverpool’s long-term rebuild took another sharp turn on deadline eve, with Fabrizio Romano delivering his trademark “here we go” for a deal that underlines the club’s changing transfer playbook.
Liverpool land N’Guessan for the future
The Premier League giants have reached an agreement to sign Saint-Etienne’s highly rated attacker Djylian N’Guessan, a move that fits squarely into their strategy of recruiting tomorrow’s stars before they hit the mainstream.
N’Guessan, just 18, will remain at Saint-Etienne for another season before joining Liverpool in the summer of 2027. He can operate on either flank or through the middle, and is viewed inside Anfield as a major project for the next cycle of the team.
The story first surfaced via Foot Mercato’s Santi Aouna, who reported on X that negotiations between AS Saint-Etienne and Liverpool had moved into an advanced stage, with “last details to settle” over the transfer of the teenager whose current deal runs until 2027. Saint-Etienne have been open about their willingness to cash in on their young star, aware that his contract situation leaves them with limited room to manoeuvre over the coming years.
The pressure around the deal built quickly. Aouna detailed that ASSE were in advanced talks with Liverpool for a player the Reds regard as a “great prospect for the future”, with only hours left in the window to get the agreement over the line.
Romano then confirmed it. On X, he announced that Liverpool had agreed a deal with Saint-Etienne for N’Guessan, that the 18-year-old French striker will join in summer 2027, and that Liverpool had already secured authorization for his medical. The move follows the capture of Lucca Brughmans, another signing aimed squarely at the club’s next generation rather than the immediate starting XI.
It all lands in the middle of a frantic end to the window on Merseyside.
Gakpo, City and the Sarr domino
While Liverpool quietly lock in N’Guessan for the long term, the immediate storyline is far louder: Cody Gakpo’s future and a tug-of-war with Manchester City.
Romano revealed on his YouTube channel that Gakpo has reached a full agreement on personal terms with City, with the Premier League champions also submitting an £85m bid to Liverpool. The numbers are on the table. The player is ready. The move, though, is not in Liverpool’s hands alone.
The club’s stance is clear: Gakpo only goes if a new right winger walks through the door before the deadline. No replacement, no sale.
That condition has thrown a fierce spotlight on Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr. According to Romano, Sarr is now ahead of Yankuba Minteh on Liverpool’s shortlist and stands as the “favourite candidate” to fill that wide role.
Palace, for the moment, are resisting. They have rejected a Liverpool offer worth £45m plus £5m in add-ons – a £50m package in total – and are said to be holding firm on their valuation. While they continue to say no, they are also sounding out potential winger options of their own, a clear sign they are at least preparing for the possibility that the right proposal might finally force their hand.
Behind the scenes, the lines are clear. Sarr wants the move. He wants Liverpool. The impasse lies between the clubs, not the player.
Romano insists Liverpool’s written bid was very real, despite early denials elsewhere, and that the market has responded in predictable fashion: agents and clubs are flooding Liverpool with winger offers, fully aware of the leverage created by City’s push for Gakpo and Liverpool’s need to protect their attacking depth.
A window on a knife edge
All of this unfolds as Liverpool close in on Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain, with the winger expected to sign after completing his medical on Sunday. One deal for the present, another for 2027, and a potential record sale to a direct domestic rival hanging in the balance.
If Liverpool can land the right winger, Gakpo’s £85m move to Manchester City could reshape both clubs’ forward lines in a single stroke. If they cannot, he stays, Sarr remains at Selhurst Park, and N’Guessan becomes the headline of a window defined less by fireworks and more by quiet, calculated planning.
The deals are there. The bids are real. The clock is unforgiving.
What Liverpool choose in these final hours will say plenty about how bold they are prepared to be in reshaping their attack for both now and the years to come.
