Liverpool’s chances of a summer swoop for Bradley Barcola may just have been given a slight boost by reported developments elsewhere.
With Yan Diomande indicating his preference to sign for Paris Saint-Germain, the current PSG winger has become the Reds’ primary transfer target (Fabrizio Romano).
The Italian transfer reporter added that the 23-year-old is ‘also appreciated by Arsenal’, although the Premier League champions are said to be prioritising a move for Morgan Rogers instead.
A report for the Daily Briefing on Thursday claimed that the Gunners ‘have made significant progress on personal terms’ with the Aston Villa star, with one source for the outlet even claiming that there’s an ‘agreement in principle’ on a five-year contract.
The 23-year-old’s asking price could climb as high as £130m, although some industry sources believe that a package of £115m-£120m including add-ons could be sufficient to get a deal done.
The same report claimed that Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimaraes – for whom Arsenal have already had two bids rejected – could end up leaving St James’ Park for a fee in the region of £75m-£80m.
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It’s important not to get carried away with these reports and the potential domino effect on Liverpool’s pursuit of Barcola, but it can be interpreted as a positive sign from a Reds perspective.
With Arsenal seemingly prepared to spend somewhere in the region of £200m on Rogers and Guimaraes, it wouldn’t appear likely that they’d also go big on the PSG winger if they get both of those deals done.
The Englishman’s prospective move to north London would suggest that Mikel Arteta might then be content with his attacking options, thus giving LFC a free run at the France international.
Of course, even in that scenario, Liverpool would still need to come up with a sufficiently tempting offer to bring PSG to the negotiating table, and a report from The Athletic hinted that the Champions League holders could demand upwards of £115m for the winger.
Maybe Richard Hughes can haggle that price downward, possibly with the compromise of performance-related add-ons, so that the Reds aren’t completely paying through the nose for the 23-year-old.
Stand by for a summer of interconnected transfer wrangles and potential domino effects as, with the World Cup now into its final stages, Europe’s elite clubs begin to flex their muscles on the marketplace.
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