Liverpool's Pursuit of Bradley Barcola Intensifies

Liverpool’s chase for Bradley Barcola is very much alive – and gathering pace.

The club’s search for wide reinforcements has sharpened since Mohamed Salah’s departure to Trabzonspor at the end of last season, and Paris Saint-Germain winger Barcola has moved to the top of their list on the left side.

Liverpool push hard for Barcola

Fabrizio Romano has underlined that Liverpool are working intensely on the deal and dismissed talk of an eye-watering €170m fee as fantasy.

“On Bradley Barcola… it is not going to be €170m,” Romano said on his YouTube channel, stressing that people inside the industry never believed such a figure was realistic. The price will still be high, but nowhere near that number.

The key detail is how the negotiations are being run. This is not a saga of formal bids leaking out step by step. Romano described “a direct exchange day by day” between Liverpool and PSG, with conversations driven by senior figures at both clubs rather than a public auction.

So there is no neat sequence of “official bid, amount revealed, accepted or rejected” playing out in public. Instead, Liverpool and PSG are talking quietly, but constantly.

And the message from Romano is clear: “The deal is alive.” Liverpool, he says, want to “complete [it] in the next few days” and are expected to “go very strong for Barcola” as the window ticks towards its close.

The agreement with PSG is still missing – “you still need to reach an agreement for PSG to have the ‘Here We Go’,” Romano added – but there is no doubt on Liverpool’s side about how much they want the 21-year-old.

One winger in, maybe another to follow

Barcola is not the only wide player in Liverpool’s sights.

On the left, he is the priority. On the right, the club have already tested the water with two bids for Brighton winger Yankuba Minteh as they look to reshape both flanks after Salah’s exit.

They have already moved early in the market with the signing of Victor Munoz from Osasuna, while a pursuit of Yan Diomande was abandoned once it became clear the player preferred a different destination.

And the plan does not stop at Barcola. Romano has reported that Liverpool want another attacker “if Gakpo goes to Tottenham or Man City”, with both Premier League rivals circling Cody Gakpo.

PSG braced for Barcola exit

From the French side of the deal, the expectation is quietly shifting in the same direction.

Ben Jacobs reports that PSG insiders now “expect” Barcola to leave before the window shuts, with talks with Liverpool ongoing. His update underlines the mood in Paris: they are preparing for life after Barcola, even if the final numbers and structure are still being thrashed out.

Jacobs also notes that Tottenham are “still pushing” to sign Gakpo, while Manchester City are interested but, as of Monday night, had yet to make a direct approach to Liverpool.

So Liverpool find themselves in the middle of a complex attacking jigsaw: trying to prise Barcola out of PSG, weighing up Minteh on the other flank, and fending off – or at least pricing up – serious interest in Gakpo.

The clock is ticking. The conversations are direct. If PSG’s expectations and Liverpool’s intent stay aligned, Barcola’s next step could be onto the Anfield pitch.