By Steve Northover
With Mohammed Salah leaving the Club at the end of this season, Liverpool is already looking at who could replace the Egyptian.
Players as diverse as Anthony Gordon and Michael Olise have been linked with the Reds, and in recent days, PSG's Bradley Barcola has been added to that inevitably widening list.
The Villeurbanne-born forward joined the Parisian giants in 2023 after beginning his career at Lyon, where he made his name as a talented young winger destined to play for Europe's biggest teams.
At PSG, he has seemingly gone from strength to strength, winning Ligue 1 twice, along with three Coupe de France titles, and last year's Champions League. With his parent club looking likely to be in the running again for European glory this season, he is poised for further success.
All told, Barcola has scored 38 goals in 146 appearances.
With that in mind, and with the perception of Ligue 1 being something of a ‘’closed shop', it was inevitable that Barcola began to attract the attention of several clubs around Europe, with Liverpool appearing to join the race last summer.
So what would Barcola bring to Liverpool if he were to join?
First and foremost, perhaps his key characteristic is an explosive and creative burst of speed that has, arguably, been missing from Liverpool's build-up play this season.
Moreover, akin to Salah, his best plays are where he's able to cut in from the wing, where his movement will destabilise opposition defences, allowing other players to exploit the space - again, something that Liverpool appear to be missing this season.
But, if he were to join, Barcola would not be a ‘like-for-like’ for Salah - any other of Liverpool's attacking players - for a variety of reasons.
The most obvious example is that Barcola doesn't score as many goals as you'd probably expect - those 38 goals work out at twelve a season. Not to be sniffed at, but not even touching Salah's return rate, even in his lean seasons.
Credits : Getty Images
On top of this, whilst Barcola can play across the front line, he favours playing on the left wing - possibly Liverpool's strongest position in terms of depth, with Cody Gakpo, Florian Wirtz, Rio Ngumoha, Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak all capable or explicitly referred to as ‘Left Wingers'. Indeed, an ‘extra’ winger would surely adversely affect Ngumoha's continuing development.
Finally, there has been a steady increase in injuries over the last two or three seasons. Since joining PSG, the winger has lost just over two months to injury, mostly to some variety of leg injury. With the Premier League's more robust tackling, not to mention a faster speed of gameplay in English football, there will likely be even more pressure put on his physical attributes.
That's not to say, should he choose to join the Reds, that it would be an entirely worthless exercise. Barcola is a world-class talent, and at 23 years old, he is likely to improve further. However, Liverpool's failures this season have not just been down to a limp attack, so Barcola's arrival would have to be part of a wider reinvestment into the squad - and definitely not the cornerstone of it.
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