Bournemouth's Illya Zabarnyi during the Emirates FA Cup quarter final match at the Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth. Picture date: Sunday March 30, 2025.
Bournemouth's Illya Zabarnyi during the Emirates FA Cup quarter final match at the Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth. Picture date: Sunday March 30, 2025.
Illia Zabarnyi is a name that has emerged as a potential target for Liverpool in the transfer window to bolster the club’s centre-back ranks after Ibrahima Konate‘s exit.
Liverpool’s centre-back depth currently extends to just four senior options, but Giovanni Leoni‘s availability has been dashed by Andoni Iraola‘s hint at a longer wait for his return.
With only Jeremy Jacquet arriving so far, it leaves Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez as the other senior options. From previous experience, Liverpool ought to know it is dangerous territory.
There have been few links to centre-back options, but Zabarnyi has been touted as a potential target due to his age, experience and history with Iraola.
The 23-year-old formed the bedrock of Bournemouth‘s defence alongside Dean Huijsen before moving to PSG last summer, where he went on to win the Ligue 1 title and the Champions League.
Liverpool journalist David Lynch, speaking to RedMen TV, suggested it is “one of those that you could see legs in” due to his links with Richard Hughes and Iraola from his time at Bournemouth.
Moreover, if PSG were willing to strike a cut-price deal should they deem he not be handed a regular starting role, then Lynch explains “that’s the sort of thing that Liverpool tend to be all over.”
While it “might take PSG to say there’s not really a role for you here to get that one moving,” Lynch “could definitely see” Zabarnyi being on Liverpool’s radar, making it one to “keep an eye on.”
The 23-year-old played 37 times for PSG last season but spent the majority of PSG’s European campaign on the bench, which could open the door to Liverpool convincing him to move to Anfield.
Who is Illia Zabarnyi?
The Ukrainian joined Dynamo Kyiv’s youth academy and rose up the ranks to make his first-team debut in 2020, and in January 2023 earned a move to Bournemouth after 84 senior outings.
His arrival preceded Iraola’s at the Vitality Stadium, but he played only five games before the Spaniard arrived ahead of the 2023/24 season.
It is then that he became a regular, missing only six games across the next two seasons. At the end of his first full campaign, he was voted the club’s Player of the Season.
A move to PSG then transpired last summer in a deal worth £57 million on a five-year contract.
Player Profile: Illia Zabarnyi
P.O.B: Kyiv, Ukraine
The centre-back has also been a regular at international level since 2021, racking up 58 caps so far and, on occasion, wearing the captain’s armband.
He is a Premier League-proven defender who can move across to right-back and is considered an aggressive centre-back who is comfortable on the ball.
Despite his 6’2″ frame, he struggled to win aerial duels in Ligue 1, winning only 54.8 percent per 90, compared to Van Dijk’s 74.4 percent last season.
Zabarnyi’s front-foot approach does make him susceptible to being dispossessed, but Iraola utilised him on the ball from the back, with a 75 percent dribble success rate in their final season together.
2 x collage (16)
2 x collage (16)
White Diagonal three (36)
White Diagonal three (36)
Victor Munoz of Spain
Victor Munoz of Spain during the friendly match between Spain and Egypt played at RCDE Stadium on March 31, 2026 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Sergio Ruiz/PRESSINPHOTO)