Liverpool Pursues Barcola as Salah Successor
Liverpool’s search for a new right-sided talisman has a new leading man. Bradley Barcola has surged to the top of Anfield’s summer wishlist as the club grapples with the sizeable task of replacing Mohamed Salah, who departed earlier in the window by mutual agreement after nine glittering years on Merseyside.
This is not a scattergun rebuild. It’s a targeted pursuit of the next long-term pillar of the attack – and Barcola now sits at the centre of it.
Liverpool’s wide-forward puzzle
Liverpool’s recruitment team had already fired a couple of serious shots in the market.
Ivory Coast winger Yan Diomande was the first major swing. An offer in the region of £85 million went in to RB Leipzig and came straight back. Leipzig held firm, and now look set to cash in at an even higher level, with Real Madrid preparing to push beyond the £100m mark after the World Cup. PSG have been circling too, but Madrid appear to be closing in.
Liverpool then explored another lane. Monaco’s Maghnes Akliouche drew an initial approach, with the French club fielding multiple bids from PSG of their own. At the same time, Liverpool moved decisively for Victor Munoz, triggering the £34.5m release clause in the Spain winger’s Osasuna contract – their only signing so far as the Andoni Iraola era gets under way.
Those moves sketched out the profile Liverpool wanted: young, technically sharp, able to operate in tight spaces out wide and drift infield. Barcola fits that template, but with the added gloss of having already lived inside the pressure cooker at PSG.
PSG’s price and a restless winger
The problem is the price.
Reports over the weekend suggested PSG are demanding around £145m for the 23-year-old, emboldened by the market around them. Chelsea and Manchester City have just paid huge sums for England midfielders Morgan Rogers (£117m) and Elliot Anderson (£116m), and PSG have taken note. If that is the going rate for central players, they see no reason to discount a dynamic wide forward still years from his peak.
Barcola’s stance adds another twist. He is understood to be keen on leaving the Parc des Princes this summer and has shown no appetite to extend a contract that runs until 2028. The frustration has been building: back-to-back Champions League finals under Luis Enrique, and on both occasions he started on the bench.
For a player of his ambition, that bites.
On the pitch, his numbers last season underline why Europe’s elite are circling. Thirteen goals and seven assists in 49 appearances for a PSG side that swept aside domestic competition. Then three goals in eight games for France at the World Cup in North America, a tournament that ended in a flat fourth-place finish but still showcased his ability on the biggest stage.
Liverpool make their move
This is where Liverpool step in.
Sky Sports report that the club have prepared a first offer for Barcola after holding preliminary talks with his representatives. The next step is an official approach to PSG, a move that will test just how immovable that £145m valuation really is.
Right now, the two clubs appear some distance apart. Liverpool, historically disciplined in the market, will not be drawn into a bidding war that wrecks their wage and fee structure. PSG, still shaping a post-superstar era of their own, are under no pressure to sell a young forward tied down for four more years.
Something has to give.
For Liverpool, though, the stakes are obvious. Salah’s exit leaves not just a gap on the right flank, but a void in goals, aura and reliability. They do not need a like-for-like clone; those don’t exist. They need a new reference point for the next decade.
If Barcola becomes that player, this summer could define the early chapters of Iraola’s reign. If he doesn’t, how many more names can Liverpool afford to cross off before the season’s first whistle blows?
