Bradley Barcola's Premier League Journey: A New Role at Liverpool
Bradley Barcola’s Premier League education is already coming with a twist.
Having dazzled off the right in midweek during a European win, the French winger was thrown in from the start at Anfield and told to attack from the opposite flank. A full league debut, a new role, and a manager determined not to box him in.
Andoni Iraola made it clear: at his Liverpool, wingers don’t belong to a side of the pitch, they belong to the game.
Barcola the movable weapon
The former PSG forward started on the left this time, but that’s hardly the point. Iraola wants Barcola – and every wide player he has – to be interchangeable, a constant puzzle for opponents.
“I think I said it a lot of times, we have four wingers and probably before the season everyone would say we had more left wingers than right wingers because they've played more there,” Iraola said. “All the wingers will play on the right and play on the left, depending on the match-ups, depending where we think they are going to be more dangerous, depending sometimes on the defensive demands, depending what we feel, what we analyse.
“I think Bradley, I think everyone – the four of them – have already played both sides and it is going to be all the season like this.”
The goalless draw will not live long in Liverpool’s attacking highlight reel, but Barcola still gave Anfield glimpses of why he arrived with such excitement. Direct, willing to carry the ball, and constantly looking to dart into dangerous spaces from the left, he offered enough to convince his manager that more is coming.
Iraola’s message was clear: this is just the start.
Building the body to match the talent
The performance came with a caveat. Barcola is still catching up.
A disrupted pre-season left him short of rhythm and conditioning, and Iraola stressed that these early appearances are as much about building the player as they are about winning the game.
“I think with Bradley we are also building his physical condition because he hasn't had any minutes in pre-season and I think there is a good part where today he played, I think, a little bit more even than three days ago against Atletico Madrid,” the manager explained.
He pointed to one moment in particular – a late run to the back post that almost paid off.
“He had a good chance [at the] second post; they blocked the shot but he arrived well. Probably we know he has more but now it's about giving him the minutes, keep building his confidence and he's a player that is going to give us more.”
The message to Barcola was layered but simple: keep running, keep learning, the rest will follow.
Endo stuck behind a crowded queue
While Barcola’s role is expanding, Wataru Endo is still waiting for his season to truly start.
The Japan international has found himself squeezed by the sheer depth of Liverpool’s midfield options. Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai are all demanding minutes, and Iraola has leaned heavily on that trio in recent games.
Endo’s absence from the starting XI is not, Iraola insisted, a question of trust.
“I think Wata lost quite a lot of the pre-season. I think he's still not at his best but he's training very well,” he said. “The problem is, in front of him in his position I have a lot of players. He's competing against a lot of players because we are also giving minutes to try Ryan, Alexis, Dom, players that I am selecting right now.
“But Wata is definitely a player that I like and for sure he will have his moments.”
The schedule will tighten, the games will pile up, and Iraola expects Endo’s experience to become vital once the legs around him begin to tire.
Anfield not on trial
A home draw is rarely embraced at Liverpool. The noise outside often turns to questions: the system, the selections, sometimes even the stadium itself.
Iraola shut that down quickly.
For him, Anfield is still an asset, not a problem to be solved.
“I haven't felt it, I didn't feel it three days ago against Atletico Madrid. I prefer to play at home, definitely. I prefer to be at home,” he said. “We cannot find the reasons outside, we have to find the reasons inside the pitch, in us. We know that if we push, the people will be with us. This is 100 per cent.”
The crowd will respond, he insists, once the team finds its full stride. Barcola’s adaptation, Endo’s resurgence, the rotation of those four wingers – all of it feeds into a bigger picture.
Liverpool are still piecing together their new version. The question now is how quickly that fluid vision turns into something ruthless on the scoreboard.
