Liverpool have twice paid more than £100m for players - midfielder Florian Wirtz and striker Alexander Isak - and could be about to do so again.
Bradley Barcola moved to Paris St-Germain from Lyon in 2023 for a reported £38.5m fee. He is right footed, although he prefers to play on the left wing, but he can also play on the right or through the middle.
With Mohamed Salah leaving on a free transfer at the end of last season, Liverpool clearly need to strengthen their attack.
[BBC]At first glance, Barcola looks like the natural successor to Luis Diaz, with the underlying data suggesting the forward could fill that void.
Opta's player similarity model rated him as the winger whose output most closely resembled Diaz's across Europe's top five leagues in 2025-26 (78%), with Salah (65%), Lamine Yamal (61%) and Vinicius Junior (61%) the next closest matches.
A closer look, however, suggests Liverpool would not simply be replacing one winger with another.
Barcola is a left winger by trade, but his game is shaped by a centre-forward's instincts.
Last season, he averaged 3.5 shots per 90 minutes in Ligue 1, placing him among the division's most active shooters despite operating from wide areas.
His 9.83 expected goals (xG) ranked in the 95th percentile among wingers across Europe's top five leagues, meaning only around 5% of wide players consistently found themselves in better goalscoring positions.
In addition, no PSG player or Ligue 1 winger recorded a higher xG total during the 2025-26 campaign.
He also averaged 8.69 touches in the opposition penalty area per 90 minutes - the seventh-highest figure among more than 1,500 eligible players - reinforcing the profile of a winger who consistently occupies goalscoring positions.
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