Are Liverpool about to land their first statement signing of the summer? As has been widely reported, the Reds are now expected to secure Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola. The French international will not sign a new contract with the European champions, his current deal has just two years remaining, and is "keen" on a move to Anfield.
A fee is yet to be agreed between the two clubs, with Liverpool's opening offer purportedly set to be around £80 million, while les Rouge-et-Bleu are holding out for closer to £135 million. Chances are, they will ultimately meet in the middle. Nevertheless, assuming Barcola does swap the Champs-Élysées for Merseyside, the transfer will require a sizeable outlay. Thus, supporters are very excited, but Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher is not quite as convinced.
Jamie Carragher's reaction to Liverpool's move for Bradley Barcola
Responding to a Tweet from the official Sky Sports Premier League account, which posed the question "is Bradley Barcola the player to replace Mohamed Salah at Liverpool", Carragher strongly disagreed with this hypothesis.
"No he plays on the opposite flank! LFC currently have three players who could play from the left in Rio, Gakpo and Wirtz and no one who plays from the right... forgot Muñoz as well! "Jamie Carragher on Twitter
The 48 year old, who is the Liverpool player with the second-most appearances in the club's history, is certainly perplexed by the Reds' transfer business this summer. Having already signed Víctor Muñoz, Barcola would be their fifth potential option to start on the left flank, with no one who prefers to operate from the right, a position they currently have an enormous Mohamed Salah-shaped void.
So, is Carragher correct? Well, let's assess his assertion.
Liverpool attacker's prefered positions
Bradley Barcola - For PSG
- Left wing: 102 apps. Right wing: 22 apps. Centre forward: 7 apps.
Florian Wirtz - For Bayer Leverkusen & Liverpool
- Left wing: 23 apps. Right wing: 10 apps. Attacking midfielder: 204 apps.
Cody Gakpo - For Liverpool
- Left wing: 93 apps. Right wing: 7 apps. Centre forward: 66 apps.
Rio Ngumoha - For Liverpool
- Left wing: 26 apps. Right wing: 1 apps. Centre forward: 1 apps.
Víctor Muñoz - For Osasuna, Real Madrid & Castilla
- Left wing: 31 apps. Right wing: 17 apps. Centre forward: 23 apps.
Note: All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt.
First thing to acknowledge is that these numbers are not set in stone. Systems are fluid, positions are not as well-defined as we all believe they are, while players will regularly occupy multiple different roles within the same game. That said, even while noting that the numbers are only a rough guide, they clearly support Carragher's claim.
Just 16% of Barcola's appearances for PSG came on the right-flank and, if you're about to sign a player for potentially in excess of £100 million, the plan surely cannot be to shoe-horn him in out of position. Cody Gakpo meantime has appeared just seven times on the right across his three and a half year Liverpool career, while Florian Wirtz clearly favours a more central role, having almost never been deployed from the right throughout his entire senior career.
So, what is Iraola's plan for that position? Well, following Wednesday's pre-season win over Wrexham in New York, goal scorer Rio Ngumoha noted "I’ve been working on it in training anyway, playing on the right and the left. Just being unpredictable really". Nevertheless, it would be quite the bold strategy to be planning for your first-choice right winger to be a 17 year old who has barely ever played there.
Rio secures the win in New York ✨ pic.twitter.com/O8UDRS11L3
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 30, 2026
As shown in the statistics, Víctor Muñoz does have expirence of operating from the right, albeit the Spanish international primarily impressed for Osasuna last season either as a centre-forward or off the left, convincing Liverpool to spend £34.5 million to sign him. We do not yet know what Iraola has planned for his compatriot, given that the World Cup winner is still on holiday.
In the two pre-season fixtures so far, youngsters Kieran Morrison and Joshua Abe have started on the right side of attack, the former scoring against Sunderland, before Federico Chiesa came off the bench to get on the scoresheet too. The wildcard option could be Harvey Elliott. Following his nightmare loan spell at Aston Villa, limited to only nine appearances due to bureaucracy, he is back on Merseyside and is in Iraola's plans, with the new head coach surely valuing his versatility.
Nevertheless, no one we've run through is capable of replicating Salah's attacking output and overall world-class quality, meaning the right-hand side of attack is not solved by spending big on Barcola.
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