Liverpool are edging closer to their headline signing of the summer, with the club nearing an agreement worth up to £120million for Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola.
After several weeks of negotiations, the Reds reached a significant breakthrough with the European champions overnight. Their discussions had focused on reducing PSG’s initial £145m asking price.
The proposed package is understood to include an initial £100m payment, followed by a further £20m in performance-related bonuses. The structure is similar to the agreement Liverpool used to sign Florian Wirtz last year, despite PSG having originally demanded £145m.
Barcola, 23, has been Liverpool’s preferred attacking target for months as they search for a successor to Mohamed Salah, who departed for Trabzonspor.
The Premier League club had also pursued Yan Diomande, submitting a bid that was rejected before the forward ultimately completed a move to Real Madrid.
Liverpool’s transfer talks have been handled by sporting director Richard Hughes and Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon.
Liverpool are closing in on Bradley Barcola after agreeing a deal worth up to £120million for the winger
The France international is known for his trademark celebration and will be hoping to showcase it for Liverpool supporters
Liverpool have continued exploring their options in attack, making enquiries about Crystal Palace forward Ismaila Sarr and holding discussions with Brighton winger Yankuba Minteh this week.
The club would ideally add two forwards during the transfer window, meaning Barcola’s arrival would not necessarily end their interest in Sarr or Minteh. Liverpool also made contact with PSG over Ibrahim Mbaye earlier this month.
If completed, the transfer would become the most expensive deal of the summer so far, surpassing Chelsea’s £117m agreement to sign Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa.
Barcola developed at Lyon before spending the past three seasons with PSG, where he helped the French giants win two Champions League trophies and three Ligue 1 titles.
The winger represented France at this summer’s World Cup and scored against England in the third-place play-off. During his PSG career, he has registered 39 goals in 152 appearances.
Liverpool will be hoping their latest major investment delivers a stronger return than some of last season’s spending.
Despite investing more than £450m in players such as Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike last summer, the 2024-25 Premier League champions found it difficult to reproduce that level of performance under Arne Slot.
The Reds secured Champions League qualification by finishing fifth last term, but that place in Europe’s elite competition has helped them remain competitive in the race for football’s biggest transfer targets.
Barcola has already lifted the Champions League twice and won three Ligue 1 titles during his time at PSG
Andoni Iraola is expected to continue searching for another winger even if Liverpool complete Barcola’s signing
Liverpool began the summer by saying goodbye to Salah, Andrew Robertson and Ibrahima Konate. Their incoming business so far has included centre-backs Jeremy Jacquet and Ronald Araujo, along with winger Victor Munoz.
Curtis Jones has also left Anfield after joining Inter Milan in a £30m transfer, meaning the club no longer has a Scouser in its first-team squad. Jayden Danns could eventually become the next local player to carry that distinction.
The six-time England international, who joined Liverpool aged nine, had his heart set on a move to Serie A for some time after failing to regularly establish himself as a starter at Anfield.
Liverpool had a mixed start to the season on Sunday as they drew 2-2 at Newcastle, but only thanks to a last-gasp penalty from Dominik Szoboszlai.
The Reds went behind within five minutes to an Anthony Elanga goal after a bullet counter-attack, but got on level terms early in the second half thanks to a fine Cody Gakpo strike.
Joe Willock restored Newcastle’s lead within two minutes but Szoboszlai got his chance from the spot in the dying moments of the game after Lewis Hall brought down Munoz.
‘It’s a strange feeling. Not the result we wanted but it’s true, the way we scored the goal in the end, it tastes better. Still, we would have definitely preferred the win,’ said Iraola.
‘We started the game the worst way we knew. Newcastle away, first game of the season, the atmosphere, they have very fast players and we concede the goal,.
‘They punished us and we had to go against the result. But we didn’t give up in any moment.’
