Liverpool's Salah Succession Plan: Barcola Emerges as Key Target

Liverpool’s search for the heir to Mohamed Salah has moved into sharper focus, and this time the noise around Bradley Barcola is anything but background chatter.

The French winger, long considered off-limits at Paris Saint-Germain, has been pushed firmly into play. The dynamic has changed in Paris, and Liverpool know it.

From “Untouchable” to Available

For months, the message around Barcola was clear: not for sale. PSG viewed the 23-year-old as part of their next cycle, even while they chased RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande.

That stance has shifted.

Fabrizio Romano spelled it out this week: “Until last week, Barcola was untouchable; now I see him linked to several clubs. The reality… is that Barcola is not untouchable. Barcola has serious possibilities to leave Paris in the summer transfer window.”

The reasons are stark. Contract talks between PSG and Barcola have stalled and stayed stalled. Negotiations over a new deal are “completely, completely on standby,” as Romano put it, and there is no agreement in sight. PSG, never shy about their financial expectations, would demand “important money” to let him go.

That’s the backdrop to Liverpool’s move.

Liverpool Push as Barcola Camp Opens the Door

TEAMtalk report that Liverpool have been given a “significant green light” to pursue Barcola, with the player’s camp now actively exploring a move away from the French champions.

This is not a speculative enquiry. Liverpool have had Barcola “on the very top of their shortlist since the summer transfer window 2025,” according to Romano, and their interest has not cooled. Arsenal are also in the frame, though not with the same intensity: the Gunners’ priority remains another winger, Rogers, with Barcola ranked as option number two.

For Liverpool, the picture is different. They have already spent around €40m on Spain international Victor Munoz from Osasuna, but that deal was never going to be the end of their wide-forward rebuild. Salah’s expected departure to either the Saudi Pro League or Major League Soccer leaves a void that cannot be filled by one signing alone.

Yan Diomande had been the preferred option, yet the Ivorian now appears to be steering towards PSG. That potential move, in turn, loosens PSG’s grip on Barcola as they look at ways to balance their squad and their books.

The pressure finally told in Paris. Now Liverpool are circling.

A Record-Breaking Gamble?

If Liverpool want Barcola, they will have to pay at a level that underlines just how serious they are about reshaping their attack.

PSG are expected to demand around €150m (£128m, $172m) for the winger. That figure would not only make Barcola a British-record transfer, it would eclipse Liverpool’s own benchmark: the £125m they spent to bring Alexander Isak from Newcastle last summer.

This is not a bargain hunt. This is a club contemplating back-to-back nine-figure swings to rebuild a frontline that has carried them for years.

Sources cited in the report suggest a move to Anfield “looks an increasing possibility,” with PSG prepared to “reluctantly consider sanctioning a sale” if Barcola rejects another contract extension. The decision, in the end, will hinge on two things: the player’s stance on a new deal and the size of the financial package Liverpool are prepared to drop on the table.

Diomande “Blessing in Disguise”?

Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy believes missing out on Diomande could work in the club’s favour if it leads them to Barcola.

“I hope so because I think he’s a terrific player,” Murphy told BetWright when asked about the Frenchman. His doubts lay elsewhere. “I don’t think they should have been looking at Diomande for the money they were talking about anyway. He is a super talent, but that’s all he is: a talent. He’s a prospect.”

Murphy didn’t hide his discomfort with the numbers being floated for the Leipzig forward.

“Paying over the odds for a player based on potential, I’m not sure over £100m for a player who hasn’t a body of work that justifies that money was the right way to go. In a way, it might be a blessing.”

Barcola, he argued, represents a more proven – and in his view, less risky – profile.

“We’ve seen in the Champions League for the last couple of years now the impact he can have on games, so it’s a less risky signing,” Murphy said, adding that PSG’s recruitment could even make the winger “surplus to requirements.”

There is a caveat, though, and it goes right to the heart of Liverpool’s tactical puzzle.

The Right-Side Question

Barcola’s natural habitat is the left flank. He can operate on the right, and has done so, but his comfort zone lies on the opposite side to where Salah has terrorised defences for years.

“The only thing with Barcola, of course, is he’s more comfortable on the left than the right,” Murphy noted. “He can play on the right on occasion, but really I think someone more used to and suited playing on the right would probably be a better option. But Barcola maybe, too, why not?”

That positional nuance matters. Liverpool are not just signing a winger; they are trying to rewire an entire attacking structure that has been built around a left-footed right-sider cutting inside to devastating effect. Any move for Barcola would force serious questions about balance, roles and how much tactical evolution the new-look Liverpool are ready to embrace.

A Squad at a Crossroads

Munoz is in. Salah is expected to go. Diomande is slipping away towards Paris. Barcola is suddenly attainable, but only at a price that would reshape Liverpool’s wage bill and transfer strategy in one hit.

Murphy summed up the wider picture bluntly.

“It’s certainly interesting and fascinating to see what they’re going to do because the squad needs a bit of reshaping,” he said. “There are all these questions around Liverpool at the moment, which is, when you think about winning the league and then what we spent, it’s an incredible conundrum that they’re in really and shouldn’t be in.”

Liverpool now stand at that conundrum’s sharp edge. Do they push for Barcola and smash through another financial ceiling, or hold their nerve and wait for a right-sided specialist who mirrors Salah more closely?

The answer will say everything about how bold – or how cautious – this new era at Anfield is willing to be.