Ливерпүүл Брэдли Барколаг эгнээндээ нэгтгэж, довтолгооны шугамаа хүчирхэгжүүллээ

Bradley Barcola bounced into Anfield with the look of a man desperate to impress.

Upon completing his move from Paris Saint-Germain, worth an initial £106million (about €125m) plus add-ons potentially rising to a further £17m, he made it clear in his first interview that he would be letting his feet do most of the talking.

“Speed and danger” were the words he chose in response to a question about what supporters can expect once he’s settled in. The 23-year-old France winger is a quiet and reserved man of few words but possesses skills to supercharge Liverpool’s attack, and is seen as the game-changing arrival for new head coach Andoni Iraola this summer.

In line with the club’s strategy to bring in elite performers under the age of 24, his arrival takes Liverpool’s spending to almost £670million, including performance add-ons, since the start of last year’s summer window. There’s no doubt this particular pursuit required more patience than others, but it was one worth waiting for.

In constructing this article, The Athletic has spoken to people with knowledge of the circumstances around the deal, who asked to be kept anonymous to protect relationships, unless otherwise noted.

PSG’s president Nasser Al-Khelaifi stood firm through lengthy and, at times, tense negotiations with Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes before Mike Gordon, the Fenway Sports Group (FSG) president, who has recently taken on greater day-to-day control following the departure of Liverpool owner FSG’s CEO of football Michael Edwards, became involved in the latter stages. The finer details were not easy to iron out, but eventually a breakthrough was found following a crunch meeting last Tuesday, August 25.

People with knowledge of the negotiations said that because of the size and structure of the transfer, additional talks were still needed, but come Friday, those hard hours were almost over. Liverpool pushed and probed to get the price down and eventually shook hands on a deal that included paying the additional £4.3million solidarity payment that Barcola’s previous club Lyon will now receive.

All that was left was a medical and the official paperwork, with Liverpool sources saying that Barcola had made it clear throughout that his heart was set on a move to Anfield and that he wouldn’t consider interest from other teams.

When Liverpool announced the news, Barcola became the most expensive transfer ever from France’s Ligue 1, and the second-highest arrival at Anfield behind Alexander Isak, who cost £125million from Newcastle United a year ago. He is the marquee signing their supporters have been craving all summer, and now the hope is that he can spark a turnaround in form after the club’s difficult start to the season, drawing their opening two games with Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest.

Barcola’s desire to join Liverpool was strong once he made the decision this summer to consider a change.

The lure of Anfield appealed, but there was no guarantee he would leave PSG in this window. Towards the back end of last season, his future remained uncertain, and a switch to Liverpool felt a long way off.

Although Barcola would have been disappointed not to start either leg of the Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich or the final against Arsenal, he did come off the bench in the Budapest showpiece, as the first substitute, to help his side to an eventual victory on penalties.

Discussions over a new contract had already started, but there were no signs of a breakthrough, though as he then headed to the World Cup with France, PSG viewed Barcola as not for sale.

At that point, Liverpool’s main transfer priority was Yan Diomande, then of RB Leipzig. The Ivory Coast winger was identified as someone who could fit into the right-sided attacking role vacated by Mohamed Salah’s end-of-season departure, but also play in other positions across the forward line if needed. During discussions with the German club, Liverpool expressed a willingness to put forward a package approaching €100million, but that would not be enough to tempt Leipzig into selling, and Diomande also had other ideas concerning his next move.

Despite positive talks with Iraola, the 19-year-old left his options open and decided he wanted to play under Luis Enrique at PSG. The back-to-back Champions League winners discussed a move but were not willing to meet Leipzig’s lofty valuation, and that’s where the sudden emergence of Real Madrid changed everything. On August 6, the Spanish giants agreed a deal for Diomande worth up to €140million.

By then, Liverpool had already shifted their focus to Barcola. All summer, the priority was to inject more pace into the team, and after the £34million signing of winger Victor Munoz from Spain’s Osasuna, the door was left ajar for at least one more addition.

That it was Barcola, a player Liverpool had liked for some time but decided against pursuing last summer in order to allow teenager Rio Ngumoha the opportunity to flourish, came as little surprise.

Sources say the Frenchman’s development had been closely monitored by Liverpool’s recruitment staff since he broke into the senior ranks at Lyon as a teenager in 2021. He impressed then manager Jurgen Klopp and his coaches with his performance off the bench in a friendly against Liverpool in Dubai in December 2022, during the mid-season break for the World Cup in Qatar. However, when he left Lyon the following August, it was PSG who won the battle for his signature.

Liverpool’s need for a blockbuster signing this summer, to effectively replace Salah, whittled the options down to only a few serious contenders.

While they had looked at other specifically right-wingers, including his PSG team-mate Ibrahim Mbaye, Brighton & Hove Albion’s Yankuba Minteh and Ismaila Sarr of Crystal Palace, Barcola was recognised from the outset as a player much closer to the finished article.

As The Athletic reported last week, his speed and tricks won him the nickname La Sauterelle (The Grasshopper) as a kid. Since then, he’s developed into one of the most exciting wide players in the world, with silky skills, pace to burn and an eye for goal.

His preference may be to play on the left, as that’s where he caused the most destruction for PSG with 19 goal involvements last season and 39 the one before, but he does have experience playing on the right, and Iraola is keen to use all of his wingers on both sides to help give Liverpool an unpredictable edge.

Agreeing terms on a five-year contract was straightforward, and Barcola spoke about his conversations with Iraola in advance of signing and how much he appreciated the head coach’s backing. He added that the experience of playing at Anfield with PSG in previous seasons’ Champions Leagues also helped, and fellow Frenchman Hugo Ekitike, who joined Liverpool last summer, played a part when the move was edging closer as the pair regularly exchanged messages.

Striking a deal at £123million including potential add-ons is seen as a success for both clubs.

Liverpool shaved off a considerable amount from the initial £145million asking price — just like they did when buying Florian Wirtz last summer from Bayer Leverkusen — while PSG sold another player from their bench for a huge fee in what has been dubbed internally as ‘the greatest super-sub transfer window ever’ following the exits earlier in this window of Goncalo Ramos (Milan) and Lee Kang-in (Atletico Madrid).

The waiting required patience from both sides, especially with France progressing to the semi-finals of the World Cup and Barcola scoring three goals in eight appearances at the tournament.

Senior figures at Liverpool accepted during the club’s subsequent pre-season tour in the United States that it could be a long, drawn-out process, yet they continued to sweat it out, against a backdrop of growing frustration among supporters who discussed and debated their squad-building strategy at length.

Despite the external unrest, people with knowledge of the situation say Liverpool’s key decision-makers always believed there was enough reason to sit tight and wait for PSG to lower their valuation as Barcola stalled on renewing a contract that had two years to run. In July, The Athletic had reported he did not want to extend it.

Liverpool have monitored Barcola since he was at Lyon (Jean-Philippe Ksiazek/AFP via Getty Images)

When PSG then signed three new attacking players in Ferran Torres, Maghnes Akliouche and Mika Godts, sources say the feeling that a compromise could be reached was only enhanced. On July 29, The Athletic reported that Liverpool were ready to formalise their interest in Barcola by opening club-to-club negotiations.

Luis Enrique’s firm stance that he only wants players who are fully committed to the cause effectively left Barcola in limbo while those talks intensified. The Spanish coach refuses to guarantee anyone in the PSG squad a starting place, and Barcola, as effective and impactful as he has been over the years, was no exception.

He sat out the UEFA Super Cup win over Aston Villa on August 12, the Trophee des Champions curtain-raiser between title winners PSG and cup winners Lens four days later and the opening two Ligue 1 matches of the season, all while the new arrivals were settling in.

Leaving the European champions would no doubt have taken plenty of thought, but after so often playing second fiddle in the big games to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue, the chance for a new challenge in the Premier League was clearly too good to ignore.

In a summer where the so-called ‘Big Six’ picked off more players from the other 14 Premier League sides than ever before — and also completed several deals between themselves — Barcola arrives as the most expensive import of the window.

His pace and skills will bring fresh impetus to the English top flight, and the hope at Anfield is that he becomes a game-changing signing capable of bringing the best out of Isak, Ekitike (when he’s fit after an Achilles injury in April) and Wirtz.

Sources say Hughes and Gordon both made it clear how important he was to the project, and another factor that helped get the deal over the line was the already strong relationship between Liverpool’s CEO Billy Hogan and Al-Khelaifi.

Despite a mixed record in the transfer market over the past two years, Liverpool have now secured four megadeals to completely reshape their forward line in the hope it brings them repeated success in the years ahead. They’ve also lowered the average age of the squad, and believe the changes will benefit the long-term future.

Barcola could have had Salah’s old No 11 shirt but requested the No 29, which has been vacant since Arthur Melo’s ill-fated loan from Juventus in 2022-23.

It’s the number Barcola wore at PSG, with his choice being inspired by Alex Hunter, the fictional player from ‘The Journey’ mode of the FIFA computer game he played on his PlayStation as a youngster.

Barcola’s arrival has also been followed by the news that Cody Gakpo will stay, with Manchester City choosing to focus on their pursuit of Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez instead.

For now, though, all the excitement is around Barcola, a man who doesn’t need to say much to make his presence felt, as the magic in his feet does it for him.

“Speed and danger” were the keywords he mentioned, and that will be music to Liverpool supporters’ ears.