Liverpool Near £120m Signing of Barcola as Iraola Prepares for Anfield Test
Liverpool step back into Premier League action this weekend with a new headline story hanging over Anfield – the impending arrival of Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain.
Andoni Iraola takes charge of his first home league game against Nottingham Forest still hunting his first win as Liverpool manager, after a chaotic 2-2 draw at Newcastle United exposed both promise and flaws in his new-look side. The club, though, is moving aggressively off the pitch.
Barcola left out again as £120m deal nears
Liverpool have agreed a deal worth £120 million with PSG for Barcola, with only the final details left to tie down before the winger swaps Paris for Merseyside. The Frenchman technically remains a PSG player, but the decision around his immediate future has effectively been made.
PSG’s stance became even clearer on Friday night. Barcola, already unused this season, was once more left out of the squad for their Ligue 1 meeting with Lille. He had been on the bench for the UEFA Super Cup win over Aston Villa, yet did not feature, and then disappeared entirely from Luis Enrique’s domestic plans against Lens, Rennes and now Lille as Liverpool closed in.
Once the move is completed, Barcola is set to become Liverpool’s second-most expensive signing of all time, behind only Alexander Isak’s £125m transfer. That price tag underlines the scale of the bet Liverpool are placing on a player who, at 21, has already lived a lot of football.
Last season, Barcola delivered 13 goals and seven assists in 49 appearances across all competitions. He carved out a key role in PSG’s back-to-back Champions League triumphs, often as the man who stretched games and punished tired legs. Even so, he has had to fight for minutes in a star-studded forward line featuring Kvicha Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue.
Now Liverpool want him as a weapon of their own – a direct, high-impact wide option for Iraola’s aggressive, front-foot football.
Wirtz embraces No. 10 responsibility under Iraola
While Barcola waits for the green light, one Liverpool star already at the club is adjusting to a very different brief.
Florian Wirtz spent last season under Arne Slot drifting between roles, sometimes as an attacking midfielder, sometimes off the left, never quite nailed to a single position. Iraola has ended that debate. During pre-season, the Spaniard made it clear he views the German as his No. 10 and the creative heartbeat of this team.
Speaking to Sky Germany, the 23-year-old outlined how sharply defined his instructions are under the new coach.
"He (Iraola) just wants to play power football going forward. Lots of pressing. The tasks you have are actually relatively clear," Wirtz explained.
The idea is simple: high tempo, high pressure, constant forward thrust. Making it function as a collective, Wirtz admitted, is the real challenge.
"Of course, we now have to work on making it work as a team. So not only that everyone does their job well, but that it also harmonizes together. But he definitely makes a very good impression on me.
"I think that he reaches a lot of players with it and that we as a team also understand what he wants from us. I think it's definitely a good start, that the players believe in it, and I hope that it will be successful."
Belief, a defined structure and a record-breaking winger about to walk through the door: Iraola’s Liverpool are still raw, still imperfect, but the direction is unmistakable. The question now is whether that “power football” can deliver a first league win at Anfield – and whether Barcola will soon be the one igniting it.
