‘Whether you move for 100m, 10m or 100k’ - Bradley Barcola faces familiar goal target at Liverpool following £123m transfer from PSG

Only two players in the history of British football - club colleague Alexander Isak and Manchester City new boy Enzo Fernandez - have seen bigger price tags placed around their respective necks, as they both switched clubs for £125m ($167m).

Such eye-watering sums of money bring with them added expectation and a need to deliver an immediate return on investments of faith and funds. Isak struggled across his injury-hit debut campaign on Merseyside - with it taking until November 2025 for his Premier League goal account to be opened.

Barcola has made four appearances across three competitions since linking up with Liverpool, with two of those outings coming from off the bench. He has looked lively enough, while lining up on the left and right flanks, but is yet to hit the back of the net.

Asked if that feat needs to happen as soon as possible, in order to bring any unwelcome discussions to a close, former Reds star Murphy - who was speaking in association with Snabbare - told GOAL: “I think whether you move for £100 million or £10m or £100,000, wherever you are, if you're a forward player, you want to start showing not just the fans, but the players around you what you're capable of.

“I thought his performance against Atletico was of a high level. You could see all the quality, he looked sharp. I know he got a bit tired later on and you could argue he struggled against Fulham. Because of that, he doesn't look fully fit yet to play all the games.

“But that little cameo, that counter with [Florian] Wirtz, when he went through one-on-one and it went past the post, in an ideal world, that goes in and all of a sudden he's off and running.

“But I don't really worry for him the same way I would as players of less stature. Somebody who has been around a huge football club with expectation for a long time and played at the highest level with brilliant footballers and thrived. So, I don't see that really denting his confidence or his ability to get in those positions and score again.

“Whereas other players, maybe if you think of Wirtz, who came from a lesser club, if you like, Leverkusen with a similar price tag, the pressure on his shoulders has been building for quite a long period now.

“Whereas Barcola has literally just walked through the door and is more of a goalscorer anyway. So, I'm not concerned for him. I think it will come sooner rather than later because he's such a talent. I just think it's a matter of match fitness for him.”

Barcola was heavily linked with some of Liverpool’s domestic rivals - including Arsenal and Manchester United - before ending up at Anfield. Was he always on the Reds’ radar or did they make a move after suddenly seeing an elite performer become available - as Andoni Iraola is already well-stocked when it comes to left wingers?

Murphy added when responding to that question: “My gut feeling would suggest that a signing of that size and of that cost and of that quality would have been something they've been looking at for quite a while.

“I think we'll see him predominantly take over that left side. Hence the fact [Cody] Gakpo was at one point surplus to requirements. It looks like Gakpo has stayed because they couldn't get someone in for the right side. That seemed the more logical explanation for me.

“To think that they would quickly go for Barcola on a whim and spend that amount of money is something I don't see, especially with the quality of people they've got at the club on that side in the recruitment area.

“I think they've been looking at him for a while. I think that's probably somebody they've seen as an upgrade to Gakpo, who had an average season at best in the last year, to be honest. So I don't think it was a rush.”

Barcola helped Liverpool past Tottenham in their latest outing, as they progressed to the Carabao Cup fourth round - where they will play host to Chelsea in an eagerly-anticipated encounter.

He will hope to play a prominent role at Bournemouth on Saturday, as the Reds put their unbeaten record at the start of 2026-27 on the line, before heading off with France on UEFA Nations League duty.