28 Jul 2026 18:37:51
Evening Gents
What is the general opinion amongst you guys on Bradley Barcola. I personally think it’s insanity to offer anything over 100m for the guy. A few people I’ve had a debate with this about have mentioned the fact Roger’s and Anderson left for 100m and more, so it’s worth it. But they were first team players to begin with and also got the English tag on their name.
Barcola is young, direct, gets in good positions and a great dribbler, of course, but his finishing really needs improving, and I feel he will get easily bullied in the Premier League; hence why I feel he does not justify a 100+m price tag.
{Ed025's Note - thats what good coaches do KE...improve players, and he does have the nuts and bolts so Andoni has something to work with mate..
28 Jul 2026 19:12:08
I'm not a fan personally. Wouldn't want him no matter the price, and don't think he suits Iraola's style. But luckily I am not in charge of the football club, so my opinion doesn't matter!
If he does in fact sign, then I can't wait for the lad to prove me wrong.
28 Jul 2026 19:06:33
I do hope I am wrong obviously! Lol I hope to come back here to say you was right Ed
{Ed025's Note - you will mate..
28 Jul 2026 19:17:06
He's quick and direct. He can finish too. He can create chances, opportunities, and be a handful.
But £100m? Football's gone mad. The standard of player is at an all time low, in my opinion.
28 Jul 2026 19:17:37
I think he could be a revelation and surprise more that a few.
But he does need to improve his finishing.
28 Jul 2026 19:19:54
I don't understand why people are saying he will be bullied. They see he's quite skinny and make the wrong assumption.
He was bullying the England defenders when we played France. He showed he had more than enough physicality to cut it in English football.
As for him not being first choice, I don't agree. He started all the important games for France ahead of Doue. In fact, Doue played the first half against England as Deschamps wanted to give him minutes, and they were 4-0 down, so he put Barcola on and he ran us ragged and was largely the reason they got back into the game.
He did more in 5 minutes than Doue did in 45 minutes.
He's an excellent player, and if he does sign, will give us skill and pace in behind. Something we have really been lacking. He will free Wirtz up because his runs will take players away and also give Wirtz passing options.
He hasn't signed yet, but if he does he'll be a huge hit. I have no doubts about it.
28 Jul 2026 19:22:55
He's quick, skilful and scores goals, the winger market isn't great and he's the best of the bunch available by some margin. I'm not arsed about the money as it's not me paying it.
{Ed025's Note - if you buy shirts, merchandising, match tickets and subscribe to Sky tv you are VV, i dont though, my shirts come from China for £15, i have a dodgy box and only go to games where the tickets are free, thats not me being a minge bag...im just a careful christian mate.. :)
28 Jul 2026 19:25:00
@DAN-ISH, so you think the club may have decided not to ask AI his opinion before paying somewhere between £ 60-100m? I'd be 'quite surprised' if that were the case.
28 Jul 2026 19:35:16
We will be a team of left wingers:
Gakpo, Rio, Munoz, Barcola (a reserve/fringe player in a nothing league). French national team fringe player?
Posters berating Rayan are only berating Andoni who signed him, if he prefers Rayan then you have to respect that. You only have to look at his coaching abilities to improve players Solanke, Scott, Semenyo, Huijsen, Zabarnyi, Kerkez, El Kroupi, Rayan (19), a Brazil WC squad player at 19.
He will improve Barcola no doubt, but not at that fee, that's robbery, if Andoni prefers Rayan that's fine by me, and it also fills a position where we are short!
28 Jul 2026 19:37:54
@riostepover, You made some valid points, although I would argue that is prob the worst defence England has ever had lol. I am rooting for the kid, of course it's just an insane price tag. And I worry if we spend over 100m on him it could hinder us getting players in positions we actually need.
28 Jul 2026 19:22:44
Imagine if we jumped forward from the, say, 2010-11 season to today. Think how much crazier we would find prices??
There seems to have been another step up in prices from last season to this season, a step up that we probably contributed to by paying £100m for Wirtz and Isak. We probably contributed to market inflation when we paid £75m for VVD all those years ago.
We can't dictate the market. We can choose not to participate, but we would likely drop a bit down the table before we bounced back.
Is Barcola a £100m+ player? Well, depends what lens you look through.
If Morgan Rodgers, Elliot Anderson and Sandro Tonali are £100m+ players, then, yeah, Barcola is up with them.
As Ed025 says, he has the raw materials for AI to shape, and our club, thankfully, has been well run financially for years, so we can afford that.
Also, is Barcola worth around 50% more than Gakpo? Yes, in my view.
So, as Robbo said, let's not worry about the money, let's consider whether he is a player that improves our team, our squad, and puts us in a better position to challenge in 26-27.
Only my opinion, though.
{Ed025's Note - good post that Zed..
28 Jul 2026 19:59:51
If it's to replace Gakpo then I don't want to see a £50+ million difference in prices.
If the market is crazy then Gakpo's price should be similarly crazy.
Barcola will do well in the Premier League, I've no doubt about it.
He has oodles of pace, but he also has vision, spatial awareness and quick feet. He'll also improve under Iraola.
We still need a player for the RW. Maybe it's Barcola, which I'm ok with.
28 Jul 2026 20:02:55
Well said, Zed.
28 Jul 2026 20:04:29
Great turn of pace, good finisher, lacks the kind of flare I like to see in a winger, but as we know, it's not a necessary trait, you can be very effective with a simple drop of the shoulder, and he is. He had a phenomenal season 24/25, putting up Salah numbers; unfortunately, it's the only time he's ever done it, but even Salah never hit Salah numbers prior to arriving at Anfield.
So we know the ability is there.
It will be down to Iraola to unlock that consistency you need to hush the doubters. Don't get me wrong, he's had a few good seasons, but only 1 great one. Technically he's the best LW out there who's actually available: 3x League titles, 2x UCL's, multiple seasons hitting double digits for G/A, one season hitting 40+. Nobody else available ticks even half those boxes.
28 Jul 2026 20:08:35
Not quite sure why everyone is obsessing over the price. I want to see the best players playing for Liverpool and Barcola is the best wide player available this summer.
28 Jul 2026 20:12:33
@Zed, Ok say the 100+m gets spent on Barcola, wouldn't you then be worried that our transfer window could be done from that? I can't see the owners supplying more funds after that to then get players for the positions we really need.
28 Jul 2026 20:20:32
KopEnd1, this is where we differ.
I do see our owners supplying more funds.
28 Jul 2026 20:13:42
Hey Ron, not sure if your post was in response to mine, but if it was, then I think you misread.
I said is Barcola worth 50% more than Gakpo (not £50m), which I think he is.
I'm working that on the rough numbers that Gakpo has been mooted around £70m to Bayern or Spurs, and Barcola could end up being around £100m.
I think he has a higher bar than Gakpo, is quicker and is younger. Is that worth 30% more, 40% more, 50% more? Its all subjective, but I would be on board with Barcola being an improvement on Gakpo for £30m+ more.
Thanks Zippy & Ed025
28 Jul 2026 20:43:08
Ok I'll watch this space!
28 Jul 2026 20:48:49
KopEnd1, you do realise we spent 450m last season, right? There's zero chance we're going to call it quits after £100m+.
28 Jul 2026 20:55:33
I have only seen bits and pieces of Barcola, and what I have seen, I haven't been overly impressed tbh. Really haven't seen enough of him to judge, and if he does sign, hopefully he massive hit.
28 Jul 2026 20:46:23
Ed025, only own three football shirts. An 89/90 away shirt I had when I was a kid that I never chucked out, the adidas originals 86 remake with 7 on the back, and a 70's Dukla Prague away shirt that the wife bought for me one Christmas. If the club think he's worth it then fine.
{Ed025's Note - thats the spirit VV, we all know the footballing world financially is a complete mess mate but its dog eat dog im afraid and if you want to be a top team you have to pay inflated prices for the top players, just thank your lucky stars that you have very savvy owners who are prepared to back the manager and still keep the club on a stable financial footing..
28 Jul 2026 20:56:26
Vic has praised someone so he must be unbelievable.... Personally, I think we are wasting 100 mill plus on a speed merchant with not much else, same as Diomande. He is more or less sub for PSG. Happy to be proved wrong though.
{Ed025's Note - i think he is probably the best out there that is available Strom, yes the fee will be extortionate but if you dont pay it someone else will mate..
28 Jul 2026 21:25:44
He's averaged about 30 starts per season for the double Euro champs, and is behind probably the best left winger in the world in Kvara, and one of the best young players in the world in Doue on the right. You wouldn't expect to get either of those players for any less than £150m in today's market, so why is £100m so far-fetched for Barcola?
He'll be the best winger we have if he signs.
We sold Diaz, who is about 6 years older and was running his contract down, for nearly £70m. Gakpo, who pretty much everyone on here doesn't rate (I still like him), is being valued at £50m+. The outrage seems a little misplaced.
28 Jul 2026 21:41:34
Hi Zed,
It wasn't in response to your post, just my personal feelings on the financials.
When we're buying, the market is crazy inflated, and when we're selling, it's always a buyers market. It's so frustrating to see. ?
I just plucked £50+m out of the air.
28 Jul 2026 22:02:36
Fair enough, Ron.
Although, I'm not as wedded to the we get shafted when we sell. Looking recently, as Rugby said above, we got £70m for Diaz, we're likely selling Gakpo at a similar price. In my mind they are both a step down from Barcola. Not forgetting the crazy fees we have got for some of our youngster - Brewster at £26m was it?
I agree the market has gone crazy, and we have played no small part in it as I said above.
But it's the market we all play in, unfortunately. Just knock a '0' off the end to make it a bit more realistic, although we are probably showing our age there!
28 Jul 2026 22:27:25
Since the question of price isn't really relevant to fans, we should only ever be focused on if the new player -
A: fits a position we need
And
B: has a skill set we currently lack.
28 Jul 2026 23:28:40
To be honest, I'd be more excited about Barcola at 100m over Diomande at 130m or whatever crazy price his agents and club want.
I don't think he's lightweight or anything people are saying. We can see lean players do well in the Prem as long as they know how to use their body like Coutinho, Ekitike, Isak etc. I think Barcola will be fine with the physicality from the 5-10 games I've seen of him.
I like that he's not predictable. Sometimes he cuts in, others he goes down the line.
Sometimes he uses the overlapping LB (which Gakpo and Rio are horrible at passing to Kerkez). Sometimes he takes on his player.
Fast, can score, can assist, good age, seemingly only wants LFC, will have French mates with Ekitike and Jacquet.
What more can you ask for?
Sure, prices are insane, but that's kind of the whole market, especially when selling to Prem clubs, so not much we can do about that to be honest.
28 Jul 2026 23:33:03
£100 million is the new £50 million. It's not my money, so I don't care. If we didn't spend, people would moan just as much.
This is all Monopoly money, none of it's real any more, enjoy the signings.
29 Jul 2026 06:19:05
@chewysuarez7,
Yes mate, you are right we did and it was the best transfer window I’ve witnessed in my life time and I enjoyed last summer (wasn't so enjoyable going to the matches though), but that was an anomaly, let's be real. You can not tell me you are honestly confident that after we spend 100+ on Barcola we then go for a RB, LB (because Tsimikas just isn't a good enough back up), CB, RW, and we need a number 6.
Our squad is so thin, I feel, and I really want Andoni to succeed here.
29 Jul 2026 09:09:40
Is that all you wanted that Christmas, Vik?
29 Jul 2026 09:40:03
I am 100% confident we will fill the roles that actually need filling. We do not need a LB, Kerkez is extremely resilient, and Tsimikas will do for now, he's not impressive, but he gets the job done, and that's all we need for cover atm. We will move for a RW. I have been adamant all summer we will bring in both LW and RW, and we will move for a RB or a CB who can play RB.
I don't believe last summer was an anomaly. I also don't think we'll spend that sort of money every year, but it set a precedent of intent.
We will spend what we need to remain at the level set by Klopp. We are one of the top 5 clubs in the world, not just in terms of success but in terms of turnover, we can afford to invest in the squad. FSG have been very frugal with expenditure; we averaged a net spend of just £30m per season during their ownership up until last year. I have zero concern over the finances.
29 Jul 2026 11:06:51
KopEnd1, we already have a LB in Kerkez with Tsimikas (who is more experienced and a senior figure in the dressing room) as his more than capable deputy. You may think he isn't good enuff to start, but not good enuff as a backup? Nah, that's not a thing, I'm sorry. Also, Tsimikas may not be Robbo but neither is Kerkez.
Hence, I don't think we will be getting a backup LB, cos to do that, you're gonna have to let Tsimikas go, and that ain't happening. Now, I agree that we need a RB and the hope is we can get one along with a CB apart from Barcola.
29 Jul 2026 11:52:06
Mate, we are in the Champions League and play a lot of football throughout the season. God forbid Kerkez gets a lengthy injury, you telling me you are fine with relying on Tsimi? Lol every other "top club" has a great number 2 option, so why can't we?
29 Jul 2026 14:54:59
People need to stop focusing on the overall price. From an accounts perspective, even at £120m, it's likely that about £30m of that will show up for 26/27 in terms of expenditure, whereas anyone sold will show up the full amount. Hence, last summer, we technically made a profit on both Diaz and Nunez, based on banking both sales in full on the accounts vs what was left to pay on them over the duration of their contracts.
This is maybe one of the reasons why we stepped away from Diomande (alongside the entourage stuff). RBL wanted a bigger up front payment, which would have impacted on other signings.
It's also why we got Thiago and Jota for the prices we did, better payment terms.