Liverpool told PSG have ‘no intention’ of keeping Barcola as French insider drops biggest bomba transfer update yet
One of French football’s most trusted journalists has dropped a MAJOR update on Liverpool’s chances of signing Bradley Barcola before the window closes by explaining exactly why he expects the deal to go through and with a big reveal on the likely price FSG will ultimately settle on.
The Merseyside giants are desperate to bring in the France superstar as a new marquee addition to their attack and provide Andoni Iraola’s line-up with a little bit of unpredictability up front.
However, despite knowing that Barcola is desperate to move on, together with the fact that his current deal now has under two years left to run, Paris Saint-Germain have proved tough nuts to crack when it comes to negotiations.
Having seen an initial offer for Barcola fail to land despite prolonged talks with the French side, Liverpool have since learned that PSG are seeking a British record fee for their star, worth €170m (£145m, $198m).
While officials have been in Paris trying to end the deadlock over a potential deal for the 23-year-old livewire, French journalist Fabrice Hawkins has now given the Reds major hope that a deal can and will be done.
Speaking on the After Foot podcast, Hawkins said: “Bradley Barcola wants to join Liverpool. PSG were informed earlier of his desire, and it was accepted.
“There’s no intention to keep Bradley Barcola. The sticking point has been the valuation, where they started at €170m.
“Liverpool have made different verbal offers. They’ve made offers since the verbal one, but there hasn’t been a written offer yet because, at this level, I think the next written offer will be the one that gets it done.
“We’ve understood that it would be somewhere between €130m and €150m, but in any case, it won’t be below €120m for Bradley Barcola. Everyone involved in this deal thinks there will be an agreement.”
Liverpool may need to shatter British transfer record for Barcola
TEAMtalk exclusively revealed way back on June 13 that Barcola was desperate to quit PSG this summer, having made it clear to Luis Enrique that he was concerned about falling down his pecking order and with Ousmane Dembele, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue all ahead of him in the pecking order.
Now, with Mika Godts joining Maghnes Akliouche and Ferran Torres as new signings in their attack, PSG have cleared the way for Barcola to leave – once a fee with Liverpool has been agreed.
Per Hawkins’ reveal, Liverpool will ultimately settle on a fee of up to £128.5m ($175m) for the star, a fee which, if reached, will set a new transfer record for both Liverpool and British football.
The good news for Liverpool is that they have already taken one major step towards a deal by agreeing personal terms with the player on a long-term deal at Anfield.
Earlier this week, the player’s former youth-team coach at Lyon, Amaury Barlet, revealed Barcola had a long-standing interest in Liverpool, having followed them closely as a young boy.
“He is still a very young player and has a huge amount of room for improvement. When he was younger, he followed Liverpool FC a lot. That club was always somewhere in the back of his mind.”
Quite when PSG and Liverpool shake on a deal remains to be seen, though more confidence that a deal ‘will get done’ came after a well-informed journalist shared why he believes it’s a case of ‘when, not if’ Barcola signs.
Elsewhere, Liverpool do have plans to sign a second winger after Barcola, and their efforts to sign Yankuba Minteh have received a stunning boost.
