Liverpool ridiculously bought a £100m-plus reserve in Barcola and it shows…

Bradley Barcola is the 11th most expensive player of all time and yet there is something that differentiates him and the 10 ahead of him on that list; he was not a first-choice player.

Last season, Barcola played 2,971 minutes for PSG in all competitions while Khvicha Kvaratskhelia played 2,908. But in the Champions League final, it was Kvaratskhelia who started. It was the same in both legs of the semi-final against Bayern and the same in the quarter-final against Liverpool.

So when PSG were presented with an offer rising to £123m for the Frenchman, they gladly accepted it.

Luis Enrique said as much when the Liverpool move was confirmed, admitting he “could not guarantee him…a more important role in the side”. If Desire Doue or Kvaratskhelia had asked for the same thing, Enrique would have found a way.

There is a reason why PSG were willing to let the Frenchman go; they believed they could invest the money and find a cheaper back-up to Kvaratskhelia. Mika Godts, who they signed from Ajax for a cost of just €55m in the summer, has already got an assist in PSG colours.

PSG are back-to-back Champions League winners who guarantee their players at least a league title every year and so if they wanted to keep a player, they absolutely would. But Barcola’s early Liverpool performances are demonstrating exactly why they chose to take the absolutely massive money.

Barcola has played 258 minutes of Premier League football for Liverpool across four matches. In that time he has registered zero goals, zero assists, just four chances created and five dribbles with a success rate of 35.7%. 25 players in the Premier League complete more dribbles per 90 than the £123m man.

Against Manchester City, Liverpool were missing four of their first-choice attackers and so needed Barcola and Florian Wirtz to step up, and yet he looked ineffective in comparison to Victor Munoz, a man who cost almost a quarter of the price.

Munoz was willing to run at defenders and looked Liverpool’s most likely route to goal, whereas Barcola managed one blocked shot and just two chances created.

It’s easy to suggest a new arrival into the Premier League lacks the athleticism needed for the uber-physical style but Barcola himself has highlighted that as an early issue.

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The 24-year-old said his struggles were with the “intensity” of the Premier League which is “so high” and while he said that’s “why I came here. It’s a new challenge for me to take on,” did we not hear similar things from Florian Wirtz this time last year?

Barcola’s countryman Emmanuel Petit gave a damning verdict when speaking to talkSPORT, suggesting Barcola was worth closer to the £70m mark and that he does not produce the “regularity” needed for a top player.

Liverpool now have a worrying trend of every £100m+ purchase they make turning into a dud. Wirtz has gone past being given the benefit of the doubt to looking like the biggest waste of money in Premier League history, while Alexander Isak cannot stay fit for long enough to have a lasting impact.

There is also the question of whether Liverpool even needed Barcola? Whilst Barcola’s ineffectiveness contributed to the City defeat, the main issue was Liverpool being dominated by the City midfield.

Elliot Anderson was outstanding and exactly the kind of dynamic player Liverpool could have used in their not-very-mobile midfield. Even if the ex-Forest man was destined for City, Liverpool could have spent the money they used on Barcola to give their midfield a much-needed facelift.

Aside from Wirtz, Liverpool have not bought a midfielder since the summer of 2023 and it shows.

For less than the price of Barcola, Liverpool could have signed Alex Scott, Mamadou Sangaré, Mateus Fernandes, Bruno Guimaraes or many other midfielders that would have had a bigger impact than the former PSG winger.

Writing Barcola off entirely this early would not be fair but there are already warning signs and the Liverpool hierarchy may be worried they have bought another expensive dud. But this time the signs were there…

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