Break the bank for Bradley Barcola! Liverpool must pay PSG whatever fee they want for dazzling French forward - he's a massive upgrade on Cody Gakpo

According to Fabrizio Romano, Liverpool opened club-to-club talks with PSG over a deal for Barcola this week. The gifted France international is said to be eager to complete a switch to Anfield, and the Reds have indicated that they would be willing to pay over €100m (£86m/$115m) to secure his services.

However, RMC Sport claims that the clubs are still far apart when it comes to agreeing a final fee, with PSG holding out for a staggering €170m (£146m/$196m). That means Liverpool will have to smash the record for the most expensive transfer the Premier League has ever seen to sign Barcola, which they set last summer when prising Alexander Isak away from Newcastle for a cool £125m ($168m).

It would be understandable if the Reds are reluctant to do that, after Isak's disastrous, injury-ravaged debut year on Merseyside. However, Barcola doesn't have the chequered fitness record that Isak had when he arrived at Liverpool. The PSG star has only missed ten games due to injury since joining the club from Lyon in 2023; he's younger and more robust, with the agility to cleverly avoid rough treatment from opposing defenders.

He's also one of the top five best left wingers in world football, and has just rejected the chance to extend his contract at the Parc des Princes beyond its 2028 expiry date. This is an opportunity that won't come around again for Liverpool, and they have to seize it before it's too late.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Vinicius Junior and Luis Diaz are the only players above Barcola in his position in Europe right now. Unfortunately for him, Kvaratskhelia is his team-mate at PSG, and Luis Enrique's first choice on the left in the most important matches.

Barcola is too good to continue accepting this state of affairs. He deserves a leading role, and Iraola can give him that at Liverpool. As fate would have it, he would also serve as a long-term replacement for Diaz, who left a huge hole in the Reds' lineup after joining Bayern Munich last year.

Letting Diaz go was the single biggest mistake Slot made in his time at Anfield. Salah got most of the credit for Liverpool's run to Premier League glory in 2024-25 because of his outstanding numbers, but Diaz was also essential to their success.

His dynamic dribbling and relentless work off the ball set the tone, and it's no surprise that he's also helped Bayern reach new heights. Barcola has the skillset to make a similar impact if Liverpool can close a deal with PSG; he's equally as explosive and unpredictable as Diaz, adept at winning the ball back in the final third, and offers even more in terms of movement behind enemy lines.

Barcola can outstrip any opponent for pace, and he's a risk-taker. Per The Athletic, the France attacker attempted more line-breaking passes than any other player at the World Cup, and he ranked first for shots taken in Ligue 1 for PSG last term with 67, scoring 11 goals in 21 starts.

In order to make the swoop for Barcola more financially feasible, Liverpool could simply cash in on Cody Gakpo. The Netherlands international spectacularly failed to fill Diaz's boots last season, mustering only seven Premier League goals while driving supporters to the brink of insanity with his rinse-and-repeat style.

Gakpo is far too easy to read and opponents can mark him out of the game with minimal effort. Liverpool looked a much more dangerous team when Slot gave Rio Ngumoha the nod in the left channel, but he is still learning his trade at the tender age of 17, and his minutes must be carefully managed.

Ngumoha's development would be better served with Barcola as a mentor instead of Gakpo. That all being said, Gakpo has had plenty of memorable moments in a Liverpool shirt, and the 27-year-old can provide striker cover because he has good instincts in and around the box.

He's also under contract until 2030, so Liverpool can put a significant price tag on his head. The Athletic has reported that Tottenham have made contact with Gakpo's representatives, with the Reds prepared to "judge his value relative to other deals this summer, including Elliot Anderson’s move to Manchester City and Morgan Rogers’ transfer to Chelsea". If they can coax an offer out of Spurs anywhere near the £100m mark for Gakpo, Liverpool would have to bite their hands off, and then there would be no excuse not to go all in on Barcola.

Arsenal have also been linked with Barcola, and though their focus is currently locked on an ambitious move for Real Madrid's Vinicius, Liverpool can't leave themselves open to being hijacked by their Premier League rivals. The good news for the Anfield faithful is that Iraola is well aware of the urgency of the situation.

"There are obvious situations where we need to sign players. Winger for example, we definitely need to sign a winger," the Liverpool boss admitted to reporters last month. Munoz can go straight into Salah's old spot on the right, and getting Barcola on the opposite side would make the frontline look, on paper at least, fearsome again.

Isak would certainly benefit from having the Frenchman as his main link-man, and his intelligent runs could create more space for Florian Wirtz to sprinkle his magic in the No.10 slot. Barcola is also an ideal match for Iraola's counter-attacking approach with his frightening acceleration and technical prowess.

Perhaps most crucially, there's very little danger of Barcola being overawed by the pressure of life at Anfield or a nine-figure transfer fee. He's a back-to-back Champions League winner who also made his mark at the World Cup, registering four goal contributions for France, and he plays with the swagger of a generational talent.

If Liverpool want to be back among the big boys, they have to make big moves, and snapping up Barcola would be a major statement of intent. On the flip side of the coin, a cautious withdrawal from the race would leave Iraola facing an uphill battle to correct his new team's issues on the left flank, with the 2026-27 campaign already on the horizon.