Richard Hughes has done a tremendous job at Liverpool so far this summer in terms of recruitment.
The Director of Football at Anfield has already signed Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen as a replacement for Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right of defence.
Liverpool are also close to landing Bournemouth No.3 Milos Kerkez to bolster the left-back department, and Hughes has negotiated a club-record £116m deal to sign Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen too.
These deals will improve the senior squad for Arne Slot, but Hughes has also taken the next generation into account as the Glaswegian lines up a deal to sign Sidy Barhama Ndiaye, in a move reminiscent of the manner Real Madrid secured Vinicius Junior.
Liverpool replicate style of Vinicius Junior agreement with deal for precocious winger Sidy Barhama Ndiaye
Back in May 2017, Real Madrid moved quickly to beat the chasing pack by agreeing a deal to sign Vinicius Junior from Flamengo when he was just 16, with Los Blancos agreeing to take the Brazilian to the Santiago Bernabeu later down the line when he turned 18.
Now, Hughes has acted similarly for Liverpool.
Nabil Djellit of France Football claims that Liverpool have agreed a €1m (£852,780) fee for Ndiaye with Diambars, who the Reds spotted playing for Senegal at the recent U17 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Info : Liverpool a flashé lors de la dernière #CANU17 sur Sidy Barhama Ndiaye. L'ailier sénégalais (2009) va quitter l'académie de Diambars pour (normalement) s'engager avec #Liverpool. Le transfert est estimé à 1 M€. Ça bosse bien au Sénégal. Bravo 👌#Mercato pic.twitter.com/4p8eWtA0nu
— Nabil Djellit (@Nabil_djellit) June 12, 2025
TBR Football understand Arsenal and Chelsea joined Liverpool at the U17 AFCON to watch Mohamed Sako and Asharaf Loukman Tapsoba as well.
Djellit adds that Ndiaye – aged 15 – will now start to ‘engage’ with Liverpool, which presumably means a discussion over personal terms and a medical, before he officially moves to Anfield at the age of 18.
Who is Sidy Barhama Ndiaye?
Not only are the terms of this deal similar to the way Real Madrid signed Vinicius Junior – who Liverpool wanted in 2021 – but Ndiaye also possesses some similarities to the Brazil international.
The fact he was even playing at the U17 AFCON at the age of 15 is impressive enough, and Target Scouting share some analysis on how the teenager performed in Morocco.
They explain that Ndiaye is perhaps “the fastest U17 player” they have “ever seen” whilst scouting, but concede that his overall game is still a “little bit rough around the edges” – although that is to be expected at the age of just 15.
It is also worth remembering that Vinicius Junior was fairly rough with his end product – but still blisteringly quick – during his early days at Real Madrid, before the South American eventually refined his skills and became a superstar.