Arsenal Set to Challenge Liverpool for £100m Bradley Barcola

Arsenal have already landed one marquee signing this summer. Now the noise around north London is that they are preparing to step into Liverpool’s lane for another.

Fresh from unveiling £75m man Bruno Guimaraes to a jubilant Emirates crowd on Sunday, the Premier League champions are being tipped to hijack Liverpool’s push for Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola – with a former Gunners favourite claiming he has “inside” word that could tilt the race.

Champions acting like champions

Mikel Arteta’s squad, already title winners, is being aggressively upgraded rather than carefully tweaked.

Guimaraes became Arsenal’s third arrival of the window, joining highly rated Greek winger Christos Tzolis and French goalkeeper Illan Meslier. The message is blunt: standing still is not an option.

They swung hard for Vinicius Junior, too. Arsenal explored a blockbuster move for the Real Madrid superstar, only for the Brazilian to commit his future to the Bernabeu with a new six-year deal. A setback, but also a clear sign of where the club now see themselves shopping.

The search for another frontline creator has not stopped. Marcus Rashford’s situation at Manchester United continues to be monitored, while Juventus talent Kenan Yildiz also sits on the radar. Yet in recent days, one name has cut through the noise: Bradley Barcola.

Liverpool’s Salah heir – or Arsenal’s next statement?

Liverpool have long been positioned at the front of the queue. The 23-year-old France winger has been identified as their preferred successor to Mohamed Salah, and the Anfield hierarchy are understood to be ready to go to £100m (€117m / $135m) to get him.

PSG, though, are holding a harder line. The French champions are said to be pushing for a fee closer to £128m (€150m / $172m) for a player who, crucially, has stalled on signing a new contract and is expected to move on after winning two Champions League titles in Paris.

That contractual stand-off has opened the door. And according to ex-Arsenal forward Perry Groves, the Londoners may already be standing in the frame.

Asked on talkSPORT whether Barcola would be better suited to Arsenal or Liverpool, Groves did not hesitate.

“I’ve got no dog in the fight, but I would say the Gooners because Liverpool are a team that are in transition,” he said, pointing to new manager Andoni Iraola, a fresh philosophy and a raft of incoming signings at Anfield.

If you are a 23-year-old Champions League winner weighing up your next step, stability matters. So does the likelihood of silverware.

“If you were Barcola and you thought, what out of those two sides have got the most chance of winning the Premier League or Champions League, at the moment you’d say it was Arsenal,” Groves argued.

That is the crux. Arsenal, in his view, now sit at the level where they must be in the conversation for the very best – and must act like it.

“So it’s whether Arsenal want to go in,” he continued. “If they go in for him, then there would have been advances being made to his people.

“Because they don’t want to be seen losing out on Vinicius Junior, being played like a little kitten with a ball of wool, but Arsenal have to be in for those sorts of players. That’s the level Arsenal are at now.”

“Barcola wants to live in London”

Then came the line that will have pricked up ears in north London and Merseyside alike.

Groves claimed he has been told that Barcola’s preference is clear.

“I’ve got a source that says he wants to live in London,” he said. “I can’t tell you, I can’t divulge my sources. I’ve got a source. I’ve got a mole. Barcola wants to live in London.”

If that information is accurate, it hands Arsenal a significant strategic edge – but only if they choose to use it. Liverpool may be readying the money and the role, yet location and competitive trajectory can be decisive in modern elite transfers.

Right now, Arsenal have both to sell.

Frimpong: Don’t stop at Guimaraes

Groves is not the only former Gunner pushing the club towards Barcola.

Emmanuel Frimpong, speaking after Guimaraes’ arrival was confirmed, welcomed the Brazilian’s signing but warned that one big deal cannot be the end of the story for a side with genuine ambitions to dominate.

“Mikel and the boys have finally got it over the line, which I’m very happy about,” he told Ladbrokes. “But they shouldn’t just win it once and be satisfied with that.

“They have to keep on winning it now and dominate just like how Man United and Man City have in the past.”

For Frimpong, the current squad is strong, but not yet complete.

“We’ve got the players, we’ve got a deep squad and hopefully this summer, the board are going to strengthen further, because I still think we need a couple of wingers and a proper number eight.

I feel like Declan Rice is playing in a position which isn’t natural to him, so we need a proper number eight alongside him.”

He name-checked Guimaraes as a dream signing before the Brazilian put pen to paper. The other name on his wish list? Barcola.

“And also Bradley Barcola… I think he would be very good for Arsenal. Barcola and Bruno Guimaraes would be a very good transfer window for Arsenal.”

A test of Arsenal’s new reality

This is where the window gets serious for Arsenal. They have the title, the money, the manager and the project. They have already shown they can prise a key player from a Premier League rival in Newcastle.

Now comes a different kind of battle: going toe-to-toe with Liverpool, staring down PSG’s valuation and moving decisively for a player who fits the profile of the next phase of Arteta’s attack.

Liverpool will not back away easily from a carefully mapped plan to transition beyond Salah. PSG will not willingly undersell a Champions League winner in his early twenties.

Arsenal, though, have something neither club can replicate: London, a championship-winning squad in its prime, and a growing conviction from those around the game that this is where the era’s biggest players should want to be.

If Bradley Barcola truly wants the capital, the question is no longer whether Arsenal can compete for him.

It is whether they dare not.