Liverpool Pursues Bold Move for Barcola as Salah Successor

Liverpool are preparing to test Paris Saint-Germain’s resolve with an opening bid for Bradley Barcola, with the French winger emerging as the club’s preferred heir to Mohamed Salah on the right flank.

According to reports in The Athletic, the 23-year-old is not just on Liverpool’s shortlist – he is at the very top of it. Those close to the situation describe a player eager to swap Paris for Anfield and step into a central role at one of Europe’s most demanding stages.

The problem is the price.

PSG are understood to be holding out for close to €170m, a figure Liverpool have no intention of entertaining. The French champions know exactly what they have: a young, productive wide forward, tied down until 2028, coming off a season that has sharpened interest across the continent. That kind of leverage rarely comes cheap.

Liverpool, though, see a different number. A package in the region of €120m is believed to be the ceiling that would satisfy the Anfield hierarchy. It is still a huge outlay, but one they consider justifiable for a player they view as a long-term pillar of the attack rather than a short-term fix.

The tension between those valuations will define the negotiations.

What gives Liverpool hope is Barcola’s stance. The winger is reportedly reluctant to extend his current deal at PSG, a detail that immediately shifts the mood around the table. A club can talk about a contract running to 2028, but if the player is looking elsewhere, the clock starts to tick in a different way.

Barcola’s case is strong. During the 2025-26 campaign he made 49 appearances for Les Rouge et Bleu, scoring 13 goals and providing seven assists. Those are not the numbers of a bit-part option. They belong to a player who has already proved he can influence games at the highest level and now wants to become the focal point rather than a supporting act.

Liverpool, still recalibrating after Salah’s departure at the end of last season, need exactly that type of profile: direct, creative, decisive in the final third, and young enough to grow with the next iteration of the team. The club have been careful not to rush into a marquee signing simply for the sake of it. Barcola, in their eyes, fits a clear plan.

PSG, for their part, have little interest in being seen as a selling club, particularly when it comes to a 23-year-old forward entering his prime years. They can point to his contract length and his output and ask for a fee that reflects both. Liverpool can point to the player’s reluctance to commit to an extension and the risk of a drawn-out stand-off.

Something has to give.

An opening bid from Merseyside will only be the start of a long game of brinkmanship between two clubs used to operating at the sharp end of the market. The numbers are huge, the stakes even higher. If Liverpool get their man, they do not just sign a winger – they lay down a marker for what the post-Salah era is supposed to look like.