Why Liverpool are ready to make Barcola third £100m signing

Bradley Barcola has helped Paris St-Germain win the Champions League in the past two seasons

Liverpool have twice paid more than £100m for players - midfielder Florian Wirtz and striker Alexander Isak - and could be about to pay that much once again.

Paris St-Germain and France winger Bradley Barcola has become a main target for Liverpool, with the Reds prepared to pay about £100m, while PSG are holding out for somewhere near £145m.

Liverpool, who finished fifth in the Premier League last season, 25 points behind champions Arsenal, could eventually end up paying Bayer Leverkusen £116m for Wirtz, while they shelled out a club-record £125m to sign Isak from Newcastle in September.

And they could be about to break the bank yet again to bring in 23-year-old Barcola, who was part of France's squad at the World Cup.

The club trophies are beginning to stack up already for the fast, direct, skilful winger who loves to run at and an opponent and dribble past them.

He came on as a second-half substitute in both the past two Champions League finals, when PSG beat Inter Milan 5-0 in 2024-25 and then in May when they edged past Arsenal on penalties to retain their title.

Barcola moved to PSG from Lyon in 2023 for a reported £38.5m and has since also won three Ligue One titles, the French Cup twice, as well as the Uefa Super Cup and the Fifa Intercontinental Cup.

He is right footed, although he prefers to play on the left wing, but can also play on the right or through the middle. However, with PSG also having Georgia's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and France's Desire Doue as wide options, Barcola does not play 90 minutes every match so a move to Anfield would give him more playing time.

With Mohamed Salah leaving on a free transfer at the end of last season having scored 257 goals in a hugely successful nine-year spell with the Reds, Liverpool clearly need to strengthen their attack.

France forward Hugo Ekitike ruptured his Achilles tendon in April and is not expected to play again in 2026, while Cody Gakpo, another who can play on the left and in the middle, has been linked with a move to Tottenham, although Liverpool say they do not want to sell.

Barcola has already played 28 times for his country and scored three times in this summer's World Cup, including in the 6-4 loss to England in the third-fourth play-off.

However, like at club level, his game time was limited because of the skills of his 21-year-old PSG team-mate Doue.

Boss Didier Deschamps stuck with Ballon d'Or holder Ousmane Dembele on the right and rotated Barcola and Doue, with both men starting four of France's eight World Cup matches, but never in the same game.

At first glance, Barcola looks like the natural successor to Luis Diaz.

Liverpool chose not to sign a direct replacement after the Colombian's departure last summer, but the underlying data suggests the PSG forward could fill that void.

Opta's player similarity model rates the Frenchman as the winger whose output most closely resembled Diaz's across Europe's top five leagues in 2025-26 (78%), with Mohamed Salah (65%), Lamine Yamal (61%) and Vinicius Junior (61%) the next closest matches.

A closer look, however, suggests Liverpool would not simply be replacing one winger with another.

Barcola is a left winger by trade, having played almost all of his Champions League minutes for PSG on that flank, but his game is shaped by a centre-forward's instincts. He played as a striker until the age of 17, something reflected in his movement and shot selection.

Last season, he averaged 3.5 shots per 90 minutes in Ligue 1, placing him among the division's most active shooters despite operating from wide areas.

His 9.83 expected goals (xG) ranked in the 95th percentile among wingers across Europe's top five leagues, meaning only around 5% of wide players consistently found themselves in better goalscoring positions.

Barcola converted those chances into 11 league goals, outperforming his xG, while no PSG player or Ligue 1 winger recorded a higher xG total during the 2025-26 campaign.

Those instincts are reflected in how he attacks defenders. Barcola was the only player across Europe's top five leagues to average more than two shot-ending carries per 90 minutes (2.06), illustrating his ability to drive at opponents before creating shooting opportunities for himself.

He also averaged 8.69 touches in the opposition penalty area per 90 minutes - the seventh-highest figure among more than 1,500 eligible players - reinforcing the profile of a winger who consistently occupies goalscoring positions.

His shot map highlights a player who attacks dangerous central areas rather than settling for speculative efforts from distance. Only Ousmane Dembele had a better combined shot volume with chance creation in Ligue 1, underlining Barcola's rare ability to both finish attacks and create opportunities for team-mates.

The comparison with Salah is equally revealing. While both pose a significant goal threat, Barcola is a more direct ball carrier.

He attempted more take-ons per 90 than the Egypt forward last season (4.26 to 3.38), but created fewer chances (2.16 to 2.33), attempted far fewer crosses (1.15 to 4.89) and through balls (0.25 to 0.59).

The numbers point towards a player who looks to eliminate defenders himself rather than orchestrate attacks from wide areas.

There are also signs that his game continues to evolve under Luis Enrique.

Barcola's passing profile across his three Champions League campaigns at PSG has become increasingly focused on progressing play in the final third, reflecting greater tactical maturity. Rather than dribbling at every opportunity, he now shows a better understanding of when to accelerate attacks and when to recycle possession.

His work without the ball is another reason Liverpool's recruitment team are understood to admire him. Barcola ranked ninth across Europe's top five leagues for possessions won in the final third last season, a metric that reflects the aggressive pressing and intensity likely to be demanded under Andoni Iraola.

That profile may suit Liverpool's evolving attack. With Wirtz excelling at releasing runners between the lines, and Ekitike and Isak expected to occupy central defenders, Liverpool arguably need another player capable of attacking space rather than demanding the ball to feet.

Barcola's willingness to make penetrative runs and arrive in goalscoring positions could provide exactly that.

Perhaps most encouragingly for any prospective buyer, there is reason to believe Barcola has not yet reached his ceiling.

A late physical developer, he has already transformed from a promising Lyon academy graduate into a two-time Champions League winner with PSG.