Liverpool Intensifies Pursuit of Barcola as Winger Search Heats Up
Liverpool’s search for wide reinforcements is entering its decisive stretch, with the clock ticking towards the 1 September deadline and the Mohamed Salah void still gaping on the right flank.
Since Salah’s free transfer move to Trabzonspor, the Premier League champions have operated a man light in the wide areas. The issue has nagged away in the background; now it’s front and centre. Sporting director Richard Hughes and head coach Andoni Iraola are moving to fix it.
Barcola at the top of the list
Bradley Barcola is the name underlined, circled and starred on Liverpool’s board.
The 23-year-old Paris Saint-Germain winger has been Liverpool’s primary target ever since it became clear that a deal for Yan Diomande was off the table. The focus switched quickly. It has stayed there.
PSG were initially believed to be demanding around £145 million for the France international, a figure that would have blown Liverpool’s plans apart. That stance has eased. The French champions are now open to a deal just north of £100m, a price still hefty but no longer outrageous for a player of Barcola’s profile and age.
Crucially, the player wants Anfield. Arsenal admire him and would be keen to strike a deal, but the former Lyon academy product is understood to be set on Liverpool. That preference matters in a market where top clubs rarely lack options.
PSG’s treatment of Barcola tells its own story.
RMC Sport reports that Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye have once again been left out of the squad for this weekend’s Ligue 1 opener against Rennes, despite both training on Saturday morning. The pair are “expected to leave” and are being kept away from competitive action to avoid injuries that could derail potential transfers.
For Barcola, that points in one direction: the exit door, with Liverpool waiting on the other side.
Mbaye on the back burner, Minteh in the frame
Liverpool’s winger search is not a one-name operation, but the hierarchy are being selective.
The club are in the mix for Yankuba Minteh, who has emerged as an alternative to PSG’s Mbaye. Minteh offers another route to adding pace and width, but the interest in him also underlines Liverpool’s reluctance to go all-in on Mbaye at PSG’s price.
Mbaye is available and firmly on Liverpool’s radar, yet a £60m outlay for the Senegal international is viewed as highly unlikely to get the green light from Hughes. The numbers simply do not stack up for a player who is not the club’s first-choice target.
Mbaye, like Barcola, has been frozen out of the PSG group as the French club look to protect their assets. He has other suitors, including Bayer Leverkusen, and his future could easily lie in the Bundesliga rather than the Premier League.
Barcola’s situation feels different.
Right now, Liverpool are described as the only serious contender pushing hard for him. With the winger again excluded from the PSG squad and no sign of reintegration into Luis Enrique’s plans, the message from Paris is clear: they are ready to sell.
Liverpool have wanted a marquee wide signing to reset their attack after Salah. They have a player who wants the move, a selling club willing to talk, and a deadline looming.
The stage is set. Now it comes down to whether Richard Hughes is prepared to go that final step and turn a long-running pursuit into the signing that could shape Liverpool’s season.
