Bradley Barcola. Good player? Great player? Flop? He could be anyone of these, which suggests a degree of panic in Liverpool’s hot chase.
Have the Anfield moneyballers not learned the lesson of a year ago when they splashed a quarter of a billion on Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, both of whom underwhelmed?
The greater hazard came with Wirtz, given the absence of Premier League experience. Liverpool’s ownership is premised on data-driven recruitment. The holy grail is the conversion of undervalued talent into elite performers. The pursuit of Barcola is manifestly not that.
He is definitely not undervalued at £120m and elite status is questionable when the data shows he is not good enough to start for PSG in big games. That said, “good enough” is a relative concept, especially when you are competing with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia for the left wing berth.
Barcola will face a very different challenge at Liverpool from the one of dominating Ligue 1 (Photo: Frank Fife/AFP via Getty)The £50m offered to Brighton for Yankuba Minteh and their refusal to meet the £80m asking price is more in line with Liverpool’s moneyball sensibilities, yet the question is begged if either Minteh or Barcola is a better bet on the left than Cody Gakpo.
Barcola’s availability is essentially a consequence of playing understudy to Special K. He enjoyed a decent World Cup with France, starting ahead of his PSG teammate Desire Doue in the semi-final against Spain. Interestingly, and perhaps pointedly, he was replaced by Doue before the hour, one of many unable to cope with the increased demand.
Barcola’s pace is a clear attribute. He also has a goal in him. But the majority of his football is played in Ligue 1 for a club that is rarely under pressure. There is little equivalence trotting out at Troyes, Le Havre and Lorient with what’s waiting for him at Brentford, Fulham and Brighton, let alone Arsenal, Chelsea and the Manchesters.
The intensity, speed and physicality of the Premier League is challenging enough. The mentality required to deliver at Anfield adds a whole other dimension. Plus Liverpool are already adjusting to a new manager who himself is learning to adapt to coaching at a super club.
Does Barcola really fit in with Iraola’s plan at Anfield? (Photo: AFP)The guerrilla setting Andoni Iraola deployed with devastating effect at Bournemouth, killing opponents on the counter, has little application at Anfield. How he transitions from that to domination of the ball is one question. The other is how he copes with the attention managing Liverpool brings. His predecessor lost his job in season two after winning the title in season one.
Arne Slot essentially sent out Jurgen Klopp’s team in that first season and stood on the touchline with his hand in his pockets as a settled group raced to the title. It all fell apart when he was asked to assimilate a slew of new additions. Iraola is not only having to grapple with the dynamics of an evolving squad, he is also having to learn Liverpool.
The club’s splashing of insane sums is part of a Premier League reflex that appears permanently set at reckless. Spurs throw £100m at any player who can take a throw-in. Manchester City don’t even bother with targets under nine figures. Throwing £120m at Enzo Fernandez after spending a similar sum on Elliot Anderson, not to mention £85m on a teenager, tells of a game bent out of shape.
Perhaps in this world Barcola is a bargain. Those outside the moneyball prism just can’t see it yet. On the other hand, what feels like irrational football economics might turn out to be so.
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