Liverpool's New Signing Bradley Barcola Set for Instant Debut
Andoni Iraola is wasting no time. Liverpool’s new £123m signing Bradley Barcola is in line for an instant debut at Ipswich on Friday night, with the manager adamant the French winger’s lack of pre-season minutes will not hold him back.
Liverpool paid PSG an initial £106m for the 21-year-old, a fee that could climb to just under the club-record sum Newcastle received for Alexander Isak last summer. The numbers are huge. Iraola’s expectations are, too.
“We are very happy with Bradley; it was our priority to sign a very, very good player in those positions,” Iraola said on Thursday. “He has also come with the right mentality. I like that he wanted Liverpool a lot. He wanted to come here.”
Barcola has barely had a summer. No full pre-season, no rhythm, no friendly-game sharpness. Yet he has impressed quickly at Kirkby.
“He is playing well for us [in training], and if everything goes well in training today, he will definitely be available for us tomorrow,” Iraola confirmed.
Is that from the bench or from the first whistle?
“Good question,” he replied. “I see him in a good place. He has trained for us; indeed, he hasn’t had minutes in pre-season. He has been training, and it’s a decision we have to make. But we have to consider he hasn’t had minutes in pre-season games.”
So Liverpool travel to Portman Road with a record signing ready to be unleashed and another winger who was nearly sold now firmly back in the fold.
Gakpo stays – and still starts
Deadline day at Anfield turned into a tale of two wide men. Barcola arrived. Cody Gakpo stayed.
FSG rejected an £80m offer from Manchester City for the Dutch forward, a move that prompted swift clear-the-air talks between player and club. Any doubts about his role under Iraola have been quickly addressed.
“My relationship with Cody has been very honest from the beginning,” Iraola said. “He has played very well for us so far.
“He was always aware of the situation in the market; we were constantly talking, and I hope we can keep him at the same level. He is in a good place physically and mentally, and I’m very happy to pick him.”
Gakpo has already featured on the right this season, a position once owned outright by Mohamed Salah. That era is over. The question now is whether Liverpool’s new mix of wingers can carry the same threat.
Life after Salah on the right
Iraola does not sound remotely spooked by the lack of a like-for-like Salah replacement. He prefers flexibility to labels.
“We prefer at the end to have the best players rather than players specifically for that position,” he said. “I’m used at other teams to demand wingers to play on both sides. We’ve played with Rio and Cody now on the right; probably most of the wingers play on the left, but I’ve seen them good on the right.”
Barcola fits that brief. Left, right, it makes little difference to him.
“Bradley is very open and can play on the left or the right. At Lyon, he sometimes played on the right. It depends on the match-ups, but I’m happy with the wingers we have, and we are going to be able to cope on the right.”
What Iraola will not do is weigh his new signing down with the size of the transfer fee.
“We can’t put pressure on the players to perform because of their price because we’ve seen how much players have cost at other teams this summer. Once he is our player, he is our player!”
Tough first win on the line at Ipswich
For all the noise around transfers, Iraola still hasn’t won a game as Liverpool manager. Two matches, two 2-2 draws. Encouraging spells, but no three points.
That has to change, he knows it, and Ipswich away is no soft landing.
“Ipswich are a team that won their first game at home. Even the other day, in the first half they were the better team until United got the 2-1 and the game opened up. We have to be ready, give our best,” he said.
Is he frustrated by the wait for a first victory?
“Definitely. If you don’t win, you are frustrated,” he admitted. “It’s only two games, but we need to win. This game tomorrow, the first two games weeks are the most difficult, but I’m much more comfortable now the market is closed, and we know who we are. We have to perform and do our job.”
The window is shut. The squad is set. Barcola is here, Gakpo is still in red, and the right wing belongs to whoever seizes it first. Now Liverpool have to show what this new era actually looks like on the pitch.
