Bayern Munich's Failed Pursuit of Barcola and Gordon
Bayern Munich went hunting for wingers this summer. They ended up watching two of their main targets walk into other giants’ dressing rooms.
Bradley Barcola is now in red at Anfield. Anthony Gordon is in blaugrana at Barcelona. Bayern, staring at the numbers, stepped away.
Bayern’s big targets, bigger prices
Vincent Kompany wanted a new wide threat. Bayern’s recruitment team, led by sporting director Max Eberl, circled two names: Barcola and Gordon. Young, dynamic, already proven at the top level. Exactly the kind of profile Bayern usually fight hard to land.
This time, the market bit back.
Barcola completed a £123 million move to Liverpool, brought in as the man to follow Mohamed Salah on the right flank after the Egyptian’s glittering nine-year stay on Merseyside came to an end. Gordon left Newcastle for Barcelona in a deal worth £69m, another heavyweight fee in a summer of eye-watering numbers.
Eberl, speaking to Sport Bild, did not hide how long he has admired Barcola.
"To be honest, I already know Bradley from my time at Leipzig. I wanted to bring him to Leipzig," he said, explaining that early conversations with the winger laid the groundwork for Bayern’s recent interest. "We sat down together and discussed it back then. That’s how I developed a closer relationship with Bradley. So there was always interest there. Of course, we also looked into him at Bayern."
The interest was real. The price was decisive.
When the calculator says no
Liverpool’s £123m outlay for Barcola set a bar Bayern refused to clear.
"When you hear about sums like that, it was too much for us," Eberl admitted. "With Luis Diaz, we made a decision that was also costly, but on a different scale than Bradley."
The same conclusion followed with Gordon.
"It’s no secret that we were interested in Anthony Gordon for the left wing," Eberl said. "We decided we were not doing that because he was simply too expensive."
Liverpool had no such hesitation. They identified Barcola early as the man to fill Salah’s void. The two-time Champions League winner with Paris Saint-Germain wanted the move, and that desire helped the Reds fend off competition from Arsenal.
The fee underlines the scale of Liverpool’s bet. Barcola becomes the second-most expensive signing in the club’s history, behind only club-record arrival Alexander Isak.
Bayern turn to Plan B – and an exodus
For Bayern, those failed pursuits triggered a different kind of summer.
Without Barcola or Gordon, the German champions reshaped the squad in other areas and tightened the financial screws. Ismael Saibari and Nathaniel Brown arrived, while a long list of players headed for the exit to balance the books.
- Joao Palhinha
- Alexander Nubel
- Daniel Peretz
- Noel Aseko
- Jonah Kusi-Asare
- Maurice Krattenmacher
- Lovro Zvornarek
all left the Allianz Arena as Bayern recalibrated under Kompany.
No marquee winger. A leaner squad. A clear message: there is a limit, even at Bayern.
Barcola’s first steps at Anfield
While Bayern reset, Barcola has already started to live the reality of that giant price tag.
Andoni Iraola eased him in. The 24-year-old made his Liverpool debut as a 60th-minute substitute, replacing fellow new signing Victor Munoz in a 2-0 away win at Ipswich. A gentle introduction, a solid win, and a first taste of English football.
His first start came on a bigger stage. Under the Anfield lights, in the Champions League, against Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid.
Barcola produced encouraging flashes in Liverpool’s 2-1 victory, stretching the game, showing why clubs across Europe had chased him. Just after Alexis Mac Allister struck the decisive second-half goal, the Frenchman went down with cramp and came off, a reminder of the physical demands that now await him week after week.
Iraola will have to manage him carefully. Liverpool have paid for a long-term pillar of their attack, not a short-lived spark.
Bayern chose restraint. Liverpool chose to push the limits. The season will reveal which gamble truly pays off.
