Liverpool Pursues Bradley Barcola Amid Midfield Concerns
Liverpool’s chase for Bradley Barcola is very much alive, and Fabrizio Romano is staking his reputation on it.
After landing Ronald Araujo, Jeremy Jacquet and Victor Munoz, Liverpool have moved Barcola to the top of their attacking wishlist as they look for a new elite winger in the wake of Mohamed Salah’s departure. The PSG talent is refusing to extend his deal beyond 2028 and, crucially, is described as being very keen on a move to Anfield.
That enthusiasm is not the problem. The price is.
PSG are demanding around £145m, a figure Liverpool are not prepared to meet. The hope inside Anfield is to find a compromise somewhere in the middle, but a report on Friday claimed the Premier League side had decided to pause negotiations for two separate reasons.
Romano is having none of that.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, the transfer specialist insisted Liverpool are “still trying for Barcola” and said he is “absolutely all in” on the deal happening.
“What does it (the Torres and Godts arrivals) mean? That there is an expectation there could be movements around the situation of Bradley Barcola,” Romano said, pointing to PSG’s own activity as a potential trigger.
For him, the links have never gone away.
“Because the situation of Barcola remains absolutely linked to Liverpool. I never stopped telling you and I remain absolutely all in on this story, because Liverpool want Barcola.
“Liverpool are negotiating for Barcola, and because I was believing in this news already in April, May, when the story and the narrative around was that Barcola was untouchable. But I remain on this story again today.
“Liverpool are still trying for Barcola. There’s still a gap in financial valuation between what PSG want and what Liverpool offer, but they’re still working for Barcola.
The financial agreement with the player is okay, and now Liverpool and PSG keep talking, exchanging messages and discussing for Barcola.
The deal is alive.”
So Liverpool, by Romano’s account, have an agreement in principle with Barcola on personal terms and are locked in a stand-off with PSG over the fee. The winger wants the move. The clubs keep talking. The gap in valuation remains the only major obstacle.
While the recruitment team wrestle with that, the conversation around Liverpool’s squad is drifting somewhere else entirely.
Carragher: Liverpool’s midfield “still a huge problem”
Jamie Carragher, never shy of a blunt assessment, believes Liverpool have a glaring issue that no big-money winger will solve on its own.
“The midfield for me is still a huge problem for Liverpool,” the former defender said on The Overlap Fan Debate.
He has been watching pre-season closely enough to worry.
“I haven’t watched all the pre-season games, but I watched the last two against decent opposition – it was Leeds and then Monaco.
“And the problem Liverpool had last season was there was space everywhere in midfield. That has not gone away at all.”
Those gaps, in his view, are about to get even wider.
He pointed to the role of Dominik Szoboszlai as a key concern, with the Hungary international set to operate deeper than many expected.
“That’s only going to get bigger with the deployment of [Dominik] Szoboszlai in midfield.
“It looks like they’re going to play him, rather than as a number 10, almost as a central midfield player alongside [Ryan] Gravenberch and that is just pure box-to-box.”
Box-to-box energy without balance. Space everywhere. A huge price tag looming over a winger they badly want.
Liverpool are pushing hard for Barcola, and Romano is convinced they’ll keep going. The question lingering over Anfield is whether a blockbuster wide man arrives in time to join a team whose biggest issue might still be right at its heart.
