Jamie Carragher has disagreed with the notion that Bradley Barcola is a Mo Salah replacement at Liverpool.
The former Red reacted to a Sky Sports tweet that posed the question of the Frenchman’s potential role at Anfield (pending a transfer from PSG).
Andoni Iraola’s men have entered into talks with the Ligue 1 outfit over the possibility of signing the 23-year-old this summer.
It has to be said that Carragher absolutely has a point about Liverpool’s increasingly left-heavy forward line following our Egyptian King’s departure (a year ahead of his initial contract expiry).
No he plays on the opposite flank! LFC currently have three players who could play from the left in Rio/Gakpo/Wirtz & no one who plays from the right 🤷♂️ https://t.co/3kTeL2zmYQ
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) July 29, 2026
And it’s worth additionally pointing out that it does potentially limit how effective Liverpool can be without a winger naturally predisposed to cutting in from the right on their stronger left foot.
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In a Salah-less world at L4, Iraola can’t rely on a single senior player to fulfil this criteria.
That being said, and to offer a point of reassurance on the matter of signing Barcola, it’s worth emphasising that the France international does have experience filing out on the right flank. So it’s not necessarily a role that would be completely alien to him at Liverpool.
Andoni Iraola won’t expect his wingers at Liverpool to be fixed to their natural flank, judging by his coaching at Bournemouth. We’re likely to see wingers swap places as part of the Basque’s rotational play on the pitch, but there’s no doubt that being able to rely upon a natural right-sided winger with a dominant left foot would add to our threat level.
How Liverpool goes about doing this, of course, asks an even more problematic question of our recruitment. If we’re willing to splash in excess of £100m on Bradley Barcola, for instance, is there room in the budget to cover a right-sided winger and the body of work that must take place across the squad?
We would cast some measure of doubt here, even if we can manage to keep costs relatively low with the addition of a Yankuba Minteh, for instance.
To be clear, we do take Carragher’s point here and accept that Liverpool’s pursuit of Barcola isn’t entirely unproblematic.
That said, we need elite-level quality in the forward line, and it seems that our first-choice option in Yan Diomande is Real Madrid-bound. As fans eagerly await further transfer developments, many are also preparing for the new football gaming season by stocking up on FC 27 coins to build their Ultimate Team squads while following Liverpool’s activity in the market.
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