Thierry Henry issues blunt Bradley Barcola warning as £123m Liverpool signing struggles to adapt at Anfield

Barcola swapped Paris for Merseyside this summer in a massive £123m deal, which included £17m in potential add-ons. However, the 24-year-old has failed to register a goal or make a significant impact across his first five appearances in England.

Liverpool as a whole have endured a somewhat disjointed opening to the campaign. Under newly appointed boss Iraola, the Reds remain unbeaten in their first five Premier League matches but have already drawn three times.

Former Arsenal striker Henry believes Barcola needs time to adjust to English football. He noted the winger's transition from Luis Enrique's structured setup at Paris Saint-Germain to a much more intense environment in the Premier League.

"It’s not always easy when you’re used to a certain system and a way of playing, where everybody knows what’s happening at any time," Henry told Betway. "He just arrived in Liverpool, he doesn’t speak English, and it’s a different style of play with different intensity in the league. You can see that everyone who comes into Luis Enrique’s system shines – [Khvicha] Kvaratskhelia, [Ousmane] Dembele, [Desire] Doue, Barcola."

Drawing on his own move to England, Henry added: "I had to deal with it the same way, and then that little switch happened and I was more comfortable. You start to speak English, you can joke around in the dressing room, you’re a bit less shy and people start to know what you’re about.

"It’s not an easy place to start, and he didn’t ask for his price tag, but it’s on his back. We all know that one-v-one, he is deadly, and he has pace. The only thing he needs to work on is his finishing, but that’s normal. If you see my finishing when I was 19 or 20 compared to the end of my career, it was so different. I became so much more sure about my game."

Henry stressed that Barcola’s pedigree and hefty transfer fee mean patience will be thin. "With winning the Champions League back-to-back, playing for France, with the price tag and the quality that he has, people are not going to wait for him to become the finished article, so he’s going to have to deliver," the Frenchman warned. "There is going to be a level of expectation, and sometimes he is a bit raw in his finishing, but he creates a hell of a lot."

Conversely, 21-year-old defender Jeremy Jacquet has thrived next to Virgil van Dijk since arriving from Rennes. Henry revealed he has long tracked the centre-back's progress: "It’s always been very high. When I was the coach of the [France] Under-21s I wanted to call him up, he was only 16 or 17, but he didn’t come because he had to take his exams. As much as he is concentrated on football, he was also concentrated on getting his degrees.

"He’s very on-point in his head, and his family knows what he needs to do and how he can be successful. People told me that he has always been seen as 'the guy', but it doesn’t always work that way. Many times I’ve seen players who were 'the guy' at that age turn out not to be the guy, while sometimes it does go the other way."

Henry added that playing alongside an elite partner has accelerated his adaptation. "You can see that he already understands what he needs to do, especially in the physical part of the game," he said. "It also helps if you play alongside Virgil. But am I surprised with him dealing with the level of expectation? No, not really, because he was always in that situation in the youth system in France."

Both Barcola and Jacquet are currently integrated into Zinedine Zidane’s new-look France squad. The Liverpool duo started during Monday’s 1-0 triumph over Belgium.

They will now look to impress on the international stage once more as Les Bleus prepare to face Italy on Friday, before a rapid rematch against Belgium next Monday.