Liverpool are a club in desperate need of a significant attacking signing after the departure of legend Mohamed Salah at the close of last season (they also could really use defensive reinforcements, but that’s a different issue), and RB Leipzig’s rising star Ivorian Yan Diomande was meant to be that signing.
Diomande, though, turned out to only be using the Reds to try to get his dream move to Paris Saint-Germain. Liverpool’s fallback was always meant to be a PSG player, Bradley Barcola, but the availability
of the 23-year-old French international never seemed certain. At least until today, when he clearly became very much available.
According to L’Equipe and a wave of French reports, Barcola informed PSG before the World Cup that he would not be agreeing a new deal and wanted to move on this summer and now that the tournament is over there is a serious push on the player’s part to make that happen—and Liverpool are his preferred destination.
However, he certainly wouldn’t come cheap, with those French reports all landing on a required fee of around €120M to get a Barcola deal done. Strangely, follow-up reports on the situation from the English side of the aisle propose a potential fee demand from PSG that could be as high as €170M.
Regardless, big money English moves by Morgan Rodgers and Elliott Anderson are said to be driving up the asking price—though both being homegrown from the point of view of the buying club, which Barcola very much isn’t, impacted their transfer fees. What seems clear in any case is that Barcola is now up for sale.
It also does at the very least appear Liverpool are the club he wants to join, and all Liverpool’s previous sales have strongly suggested with Diomande off the board, Barcola is the new top choice. The question now will be whether an acceptable fee can be agreed with PSG, for which the player wanting out should certianly help.
