Liverpool have started “official club to club talks” with PSG to sign Bradley Barcola.
Fabrizio Romano reports on X (formerly Twitter) that the Merseysiders have submitted an opening bid worth over €100m [£85.6m].
Reports coming out of France indicate that the Ligue 1 giants are holding out for a figure closer to £145m [€170m].
It’s somewhat anxiety-inducing to see that Liverpool have a long way to go before potentially reaching the closing stages of talks with PSG.
🚨🔴 Understand official club to club talks between Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain for Bradley Barcola have started.#LFC indicated initial bid value over €100m, still far from PSG requests — but talks are on.
Barcola wants Liverpool, as exclusively revealed since May. pic.twitter.com/0AnsWpuklP
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 3, 2026
Even more so, given, as Romano notes, our opening bid is “still far from PSG requests”.
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On that basis, we have to assume that talks are unlikely to reach a definitive conclusion this week, which will leave Richard Hughes and Co. with an even shorter span of time within which to secure futher reinforcements.
Liverpool have walked themselves into a bit of a pickle here.
Technically, they can’t afford to step away, given this is a deal they’ve evidently held out for for much of the window. To walk away now wouldbe extremely disappointing, not least of all because the remaining options availble in the market don’t necessarily fall into the elite bracket as easily as Barcola.
However, with 29 days left until the window closes at the start of September, the clock is ticking, and Liverpool still have a lot of business they need to get through to ensure Andoni Iraola has a workable squad.
Playing the long game to secure Bradley Barcola on a vaguely acceptable fee – at the cost of further signings – simply wouldn’t be an acceptable outcome.
Our only hope is that additional deals are firmly in the pipeline and ready to be finalised with haste once we have a clearer picture of the budget we’re working with after the Frenchman’s proposed arrival.
You could forgive Iraola for feeling increasingly nervous in the meantime.
We’re pretty confident that Liverpool will be able to nail down a deal below PSG’s internal valuation of the player.
Certainly, we can’t imagine Luis Enrique’s men are expecting Barcola to stay put and compete with both Khvicha Kvaratskehlia and Mika Godts for a place in the starting XI.
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Was Salah a superstar when he showed up in year ago? No. He was an obscure right winger about whom few were excited outside Egypt. We do not need to spend ridiculous amounts of money on one player like we did last summer. We should use the same model that’s worked for decades: they become stars when at Liverpool, not before! I dare say this is a losing strategy, financially and strategically in terms of building a winning team.
Does that mean Liverpool and Hughes recruiting team does not have other alternatives than spending the whole transfer period chasing one target…how many other options out there who can make Liverpool a better team than wasting time waiting for Barcola only…wat more of other positions that needs to be beefed up.what is Hughes and co thinking about them…is Barcola going to replace Konate , Robertson and Salah … Talking of replacing Salah…it needs a dominant player not someone fighting for a place at his present team like Barcola… Liverpool shld sign 2 players at that RW to balance the gap left by Salah….players like Canceicoa and Raphael Leo
Dangerous game putting all your eggs in one basket. He’s a good player, no doubt about that, but while defensive weaknesses remain we won’t challenge for honours.
I would perfer the money bring spent on a central defender, a right back and a defensive midfielder. Once Arsenal get the players they want it’s game over. The best defence, an improved midfield and a more potent attack .
Will ship goals like last season, especially if the set piece coaching doesn’t improve, we will be lucky to get Europa league. even with Barcola.
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