Liverpool's Bid for Barcola as Salah Successor

Liverpool are preparing to test Paris Saint-Germain’s resolve with an opening offer for Bradley Barcola, with the French winger emerging as the club’s preferred heir to Mohamed Salah, according to reports in The Athletic.

At 23, Barcola has surged to the top of Liverpool’s attacking wishlist. Internally, he is viewed as the priority signing of this window, the player to reshape the right side of their attack after Salah’s departure at the end of last season. The message from the player’s camp is clear: he wants Anfield.

The path to a deal, though, is anything but smooth.

PSG are understood to be demanding close to €170m to even consider letting Barcola leave. Liverpool, for all their admiration, have little appetite for entering that territory. The gap between valuation and willingness to pay is stark, and both clubs know it.

The Premier League side are instead eyeing a fee in the region of €120m as a figure they could live with. The strategy is obvious: lean on the player’s situation and push Paris to compromise.

Barcola’s contract runs until 2028, but he is reportedly reluctant to extend. That hesitation has opened a door Liverpool are determined to walk through. If PSG sense that their winger will not commit long-term, the leverage begins to shift.

On the pitch, Barcola has already delivered the kind of season that turns interest into intent. Across the 2025-26 campaign, he made 49 appearances for Les Rouge et Bleu, scoring 13 goals and providing seven assists. Those numbers, in a squad stacked with attacking talent, underline why Europe’s elite have taken notice.

For Barcola, the next step is about status as much as salary. He is now said to be keen on taking his career to another level, not just by playing for a top European side, but by becoming a central figure within it. Liverpool, rebuilding their forward line and searching for a new talisman on the right, can offer exactly that.

PSG, though, have seen this film before: a young, coveted attacker, a long contract, and a powerful Premier League suitor circling. This time, they are setting the price sky-high and daring Liverpool to climb.

The first bid from Anfield will not settle the argument. It will simply reveal how serious Liverpool are about making Bradley Barcola the face of their post-Salah era—and how far PSG are willing to go to keep him.