Liverpool are working on a deal to sign Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola, with the French club demanding around £140million for the 23-year-old. The fee would smash the British record of £125m Liverpool paid for Alexander Isak last summer.
New Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola recently made no secret of his priority. Asked where the club needed to strengthen, he said: "We definitely need to sign a winger." Liverpool must replace Mo Salah, and their out-and-out right-wing options on a pre-season tour of the US were Kieran Morrison, 19, and Joshua Abe, 16.
Barcola has stalled over a new contract at PSG and has told the club he wants to leave. He fell down the pecking order under Luis Enrique last season, with Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia preferred as PSG's wide options during the business end of the Champions League.
Even so, Barcola effectively replaced Kylian Mbappe on PSG's flank when Mbappe joined Real Madrid two years ago, and club legend Javier Pastore has said he could reach Mbappe's level one day. Barcola ranked behind only team-mate Ousmane Dembele and Monaco's Ansu Fati for combined expected goals and assists per 90 minutes in Ligue 1 last season.
He played in all eight of France's games at the World Cup, starting four, scoring three goals including one against England in the third-place play-off, and setting up another. He has six goals in 28 caps for France since making his debut in 2024.
From 'the grasshopper' to the France squad
Barcola's speed, tricks and flicks earned him the nickname "la sauterelle", or the grasshopper, as he came through the ranks at Lyon. He was never regarded as a generational wonderkid. "He was a normal kid, he never played above his age category, never jumped a stage," Lyon's former academy manager Jean-Francois Vulliez told Sky Sports. "His maturation was a normal process."
Barcola joined Lyon's academy, which also produced Alexandre Lacazette, Rayan Cherki and Karim Benzema, at age eight after being spotted playing in an indoor tournament for hometown club AS Buers Villeurbanne. One of six siblings, his brother Malcolm, a goalkeeper, also played for Lyon, and their mother played football when she was younger too. "It's rare but she's the one who gave us the passion," Barcola once said.
Barcola and Malcolm used to watch clips their mother had filmed of their matches, and their father took them to the local stadium to practise at weekends. "My father made Bradley do specific work in front of goal, and me, as a goalkeeper... he made me work too," Malcolm told Le Progres. "We complemented each other well."
A breakthrough forced by circumstance
Barcola's career nearly stalled altogether at Lyon under Laurent Blanc, who saw him struggling to break into the first team without putting in the effort in training. In January 2023 he came close to being sent on loan to Swiss side St Gallen.
His chance came after team-mate Karl Toko Ekambi stormed down the tunnel after being substituted, was jeered by fans, and was filmed booting a rubbish bin in fury. Toko Ekambi never played for Lyon again. Barcola scored five goals and set up nine more in the back end of the 2022-23 season, including the winner at the Parc des Princes against a PSG side that would go on to spend £40m signing him that summer.
Built for Iraola's style
Barcola was the fifth quickest player in the Champions League last season and the seventh fastest at the World Cup, giving Liverpool the raw pace across the forward line they currently lack. Iraola's teams push the ball forward as quickly as possible: Bournemouth produced the most direct attacks of any Premier League side last season, the joint-most goals from counter-attacks, and across his entire reign attacked at 1.95 metres per second, the fastest of all Premier League clubs, while averaging the second-fewest passes per sequence.
Barcola likes to knock the ball past a defender from a standing start, or to race back toward his own goal to collect possession before turning and accelerating away. He often drifts into the channels to let PSG's attacking full backs provide the width, and having played as a striker until age 17, he retains a nose for goal.
He recorded the second-most shot-ending carries per 90 minutes in Ligue 1 last season with 40, behind only Mason Greenwood's 43, despite playing 1,750 minutes to Greenwood's near-2,500. His 1.9 chances created from open play per 90 minutes ranked behind only Dembele and Lee Kang-In in the league.
Barcola can play either wing and often drifts centrally, as he did in both legs of PSG's Champions League last-16 win over Chelsea. In the first leg he took up a central position on the shoulder of right-sided centre back Wesley Fofana before scoring, and repeated the trick in the second leg, drifting in from the right to trouble left centre back Jorrel Hato. His touch map from PSG's full Champions League campaign shows how often he played centrally, and most of his shots and goals in Ligue 1 also came from central positions inside the box.
Attacking full backs are central to Iraola's system. Milos Kerkez was one of the most attacking defenders in the division at Bournemouth in 2024-25, before joining Liverpool last summer. Iraola also has a record of improving wingers used as inside forwards, with Antoine Semenyo flourishing under him before joining Manchester City, and Isi Palazon developing at Rayo Vallecano.
