Bayern Munich's Missed Targets: Barcola and Gordon

Bayern Munich went hunting for wide players this summer. They ended up watching two of their main targets walk into other giants’ dressing rooms.

• Bradley Barcola to Liverpool.
• Anthony Gordon to Barcelona.

Bayern, in the end, stepped aside – beaten not by persuasion, but by price.

Bayern’s big swing that never landed

Sporting director Max Eberl admitted Bayern had gone deep on Barcola. This wasn’t a name plucked from a scouting list in June. It was personal.

"To be honest, I already know Bradley from my time at Leipzig. I wanted to bring him to Leipzig," he told Sport Bild, revealing a long-standing admiration. Talks back then had laid the groundwork. "We sat down together and discussed it back then. That’s how I developed a closer relationship with Bradley. So there was always interest there. Of course, we also looked into him at Bayern."

They did more than look. Bayern explored a deal, ran the numbers, weighed the impact on Vincent Kompany’s rebuild. Then Liverpool arrived with a figure that changed the entire conversation.

Barcola joined the Reds for £123 million, signed as the man to step into the void left by Mohamed Salah after his glittering nine-year spell at Anfield. For Bayern, that was the point the chase stopped.

"When you hear about sums like that, it was too much for us," Eberl admitted. "With Luis Diaz, we made a decision that was also costly, but on a different scale than Bradley."

That sentence tells the story. Bayern are willing to spend. Just not at that level for a winger this summer.

Gordon interest hits the same wall

The pattern repeated on the other flank.

"It’s no secret that we were interested in Anthony Gordon for the left wing," Eberl said. Bayern had identified the Newcastle man as a prime option to inject pace and directness into Kompany’s attack.

But once again, the market roared back with a number they refused to meet. Gordon instead moved from Newcastle to Barcelona in a deal worth £69m. Bayern walked away.

"We decided we were not doing that because he was simply too expensive," Eberl conceded. Two targets, two dead ends, both for the same reason.

Liverpool go all in on Barcola

While Bayern pulled back, Liverpool pushed everything to the centre of the table.

Barcola, twice a Champions League winner with Paris Saint-Germain, wanted the move. Liverpool wanted him even more. He was their priority to replace Salah, the focal point of an entire era at Anfield.

Arsenal circled, but the player’s willingness to join Liverpool helped the club fend off their interest. The fee – that eye-watering £123m – makes the France international the second-most expensive signing in Liverpool’s history, behind only club-record arrival Alexander Isak.

This is not a gentle transition. It is a statement that Liverpool intend to stay at the sharp end of Europe without Salah.

Barcola has already started to justify the fuss. He came off the bench for his debut, replacing fellow new signing Victor Munoz on the hour in a 2-0 away win at Ipswich. It was a controlled introduction, a first taste of English football under Andoni Iraola.

His first start came quickly, on Wednesday night, in a much bigger arena: the Champions League.

Against Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid, Barcola produced flashes of the direct running and invention that persuaded Liverpool to break the bank. He stretched the game, asked questions, and showed enough to hint at what might come once he fully settles.

Liverpool edged it 2-1, Alexis Mac Allister striking the decisive second-half goal. Shortly after that, Barcola went off with cramp. Nothing dramatic, but a reminder that Iraola will have to manage his fitness and adaptation carefully in the coming weeks.

Bayern reshape instead of gambling

While Liverpool leaned into risk, Bayern chose a different route. Missing out on Barcola and Gordon triggered a broader rethink of Kompany’s squad.

They still strengthened: Ismael Saibari and Nathaniel Brown arrived to give the new coach fresh options. But the bigger story was the clear-out.

• Joao Palhinha
• Alexander Nubel
• Daniel Peretz
• Noel Aseko
• Jonah Kusi-Asare
• Maurice Krattenmacher
• Lovro Zvornarek

All left the Allianz Arena as Bayern moved to balance the books and reset the wage bill.

No marquee winger. No £100m-plus gamble. Instead, a leaner squad, a tighter budget, and a coach asked to build something coherent without the headline-grabbing wide man many expected.

Liverpool now have their Salah successor on the pitch and a huge fee on the balance sheet. Bayern have their principles intact, their accounts steadier, and their flanks still waiting for a new star. Which model will look wiser when the season hits its sharpest edges?