Liverpool have an agreement in principle with Paris Saint Germain to sign Bradley Barcola in a package worth £120m. The transfer is not completed. Final points are still under discussion, but talks have moved forward after a long gap in valuation.
PSG had asked for about £145m through the summer. The £120m fee is now understood to be the fixed sum Liverpool would pay for the 23 year old France international. Last clauses still need a signature.
What the fee would mean at Anfield
If Barcola arrives, he would become Liverpool’s second costliest signing, behind the club record move for Alexander Isak from Newcastle at £125m last summer. The deal would lift spending since the end of the 2024 25 season to just over £663m. That outlay already includes £116.5m on Florian Wirtz plus the arrivals of Milos Kerkez, Hugo Ekitike, Victor Munoz, Jeremy Jacquet, Giovanni Leoni and Jeremie Frimpong.
Getting this over the line before the deadline would also free Cody Gakpo to leave. Tottenham and Manchester City both have interest in the Dutchman.
Sky Sports News reports that Lyon would take a cut if Barcola leaves PSG. The French champions bought him from Lyon in 2023 for £38.6m, or €45m, with a sell on clause attached. PSG’s president and sporting director have kept talks going from the Champions League draw in Monaco. The move would be a record sale out of the French league and a large profit on a player who helped PSG win two Champions League titles in three seasons.
Iraola wants numbers on the wing and a second target stays live
On Thursday Andoni Iraola would not name players who are not yet Liverpool’s. He did say the club are trying to sign in that area because they lack numbers there, and he hopes for good news soon.
Liverpool are also chasing a second new winger. The current focus is Ismaila Sarr of Crystal Palace after talks with Brighton over Yankuba Minteh stalled. Brighton want £80m and have already turned down two bids, the latest at £60m.
Palace have no plan to sell Sarr at this stage and see the 28 year old as unavailable. He has three years left on his contract. Sarr missed the opening weekend defeat at Everton. Some reports said he was refusing to train. The club understanding is that he is injured.
Carragher wants Barcola but says Salah’s side is still the hole
Jamie Carragher told Sky Sports he would love Barcola at Liverpool and called him a great player, yet he does not see him as the profile the squad should put first. In his view Barcola is a left sided attacker, even if he has played on the right at PSG. The clear gap after Mohamed Salah left at the end of last season is a right winger. Carragher does not think anyone in the current group looks fully at ease there.
He noted Liverpool already have several players who can operate comfortably on the left, and he was not ranking them above Barcola. The issue is balance. If Liverpool signed Barcola and a right winger as well, he would be delighted, because that would force others to move on. Right now he felt the summer should have been about replacing Salah. Barcola, he said, does not do that job.
