The inside story of how Liverpool signed Bradley Barcola, the £120m game-changer who ‘ticks all the boxes’ for Andoni Iraola: The PSG stand-off, beating Arsenal and why they aren’t finished spending yet

Andoni Iraola says he wants his wingers to be game-changers and superstars who can ‘make the difference’. Bradley Barcola, a two-time European champion and top scorer in Ligue 1 for Paris Saint-Germain last season, certainly ticks that box.

He is a game-changer for Iraola, who has been waiting patiently for a flashy new winger to bill as the Mohamed Salah replacement. And he is a game-changer for this transfer window for Liverpool.

Until this point, sporting director Richard Hughes resembled a schoolkid sitting in a maths exam dumbstruck and struggling to solve the puzzles in front of him. He had months to revise and plan but was leaving it all to the last minute and the clock was ticking.

You need not be an expert to identify Liverpool’s priorities this summer. A bid of around £86million for RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande, who ultimately ended up at Real Madrid for £120million. Bids of £50million and £60million Yankuba Minteh of Brighton, an approach for Ismaila Sarr at Crystal Palace.

Now Hughes has got his man and a window that threatened to be an utter failure looks a lot brighter. Another forward on top of Barcola would make it a success. A defensive midfielder too? That would be an A-star grade for a man who has frustrated fans to say the least.

The optimists will insist that a deal for Barcola was never in doubt. Transfer chiefs at both PSG and Liverpool privately will admit they all expected it to happen, which was evident from the French club signing three forwards: Ferran Torres, Mika Godts and Maghnes Akliouche. PSG’s high valuation caused a saga and a stand-off, with an original asking price of £145million. Liverpool were never going to pay that and negotiated a fee of a guaranteed £100million with £20million in add-ons.

Nothing is signed yet but all parties are confident, with Barcola signalling his intent to join Liverpool. Earlier in the window, Arsenal had shown an interest but Barcola had his heart set on moving to Merseyside.

Liverpool have been crying out for a new winger since Salah announced his departure in March but the truth is that they never replaced Luis Diaz last season. Salah and Cody Gakpo’s levels both dropped, while new £125million forward Alexander Isak spent most of the year injured.

Barcola, as it goes, was a strong option this time last year. For a few days, Liverpool chiefs considered making a move for a man that would have cost just £70million back then. Instead, they did not want to block the progress of teenager Rio Ngumoha.

The 17-year-old started the first game of the season on the right flank and there remains the possibility that both Barcola and Ngumoha can play on either side of Isak or fellow No9 Hugo Ekitike when he eventually returns from a lengthy injury.

It is worth saying, though, that all of Liverpool’s wide men prefer playing on the left. Iraola is keen to change that and make them all versatile enough to operate off both sides and big-money Barcola will not be too high-profile for this rule.

Judging off the limited evidence of this season and a few cameos last term, the right flank is not Ngumoha’s best position but, at 17, he has time on his side. New signing Victor Munoz, a £34.5million arrival from Osasuna, is pushing to start on Saturday after a bright cameo last week where he won the late penalty that rescued a point for Iraola on Tyneside.

‘For a club like us we need wingers who can make the difference,’ said Iraola on Thursday. ‘To be the man who can make the difference in isolation, who can attack the spaces.

‘Someone who can also do the defensive work that we are going to demand from them in terms of pressing or sometimes following the full-backs. And also if they can provide numbers then it’s perfect. It is difficult to find someone who can tick all the boxes, but it is what we are trying to do.’

Liverpool hope that Barcola, 23, can eventually be the ‘perfect’ forward he craves. He registered 20 goal involvements last term, 42 the season before. His speed and tricks won him the nickname La Sauterelle (the grasshopper) as a kid.

Why did he want to leave PSG, then? Barcola and the rest of Luis Enrique’s super-team shared minutes in the league but, when it really mattered, the boss preferred Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue as his wide options. Barcola came off the bench in the last two Champions League finals but he believes he is good enough to be the main man.

Liverpool’s first plan was to sign Diomande this summer. They made contact with his representatives early this year and appeared to be leading the race heading into the World Cup. It was reported that he preferred PSG but they never put the money on the table.

So the Reds pivoted to Barcola and still wanted another forward. It would have been fascinating to see if they would have tried a mega double-swoop for Diomande and Barcola had the Ivory Coast winger not headed to Real Madrid. They explored the option of fellow PSG star Ibrahim Mbaye being that additional forward but felt his price was too high.

Then Minteh became an option. Brighton want a significant fee for the Gambia international which may price Liverpool out, although Minteh’s camp could put pressure on the Seagulls hierarchy to lower their demands. Sarr is also an option that has been mooted. Earlier in the window, they looked at Newcastle target Matias Fernandez-Pardo at Lille.

Barcola made his name at Lyon in a prestigious academy alongside Manchester City star Rayan Cherki. One of six siblings, Barcola’s brother Malcolm, a goalkeeper, also played for Lyon. His mum played when she was younger, too.

Speaking during the World Cup, France skipper Kylian Mbappe said: ‘It was inevitable that he would reach the highest level, but he did so in his very first season in Paris. He’s really starting to establish himself. Bradley doesn’t talk much. But he’s a great guy.’

Mbappe is more confident than most were even a few years back, when no one saw this meteoric rise coming for Barcola. He was failing to leave huge impressions at Lyon and boss Laurent Blanc nearly shifted him out to St Gallen in the Swiss league.

Then due to a selection crisis, Barcola found himself in the starting XI. After barely playing in the first half of the season, he was in the team most weeks from January onwards and scored seven times with eight more assists. ‘He doesn’t second-guess himself,’ said Blanc. ‘He scores goals, even though he is not necessarily an out-and-out striker. He can easily eliminate opponents with his technical finesse and speed.’

He was sold to PSG for £40million that summer and they are set for a healthy profit. He has been training but not part of matchday squads in the early weeks of this campaign.

Barcola’s arrival, if coupled with another new forward, will have a knock-on effect on current players, not least Cody Gakpo who has been strongly linked to Tottenham for weeks and Manchester City in recent days. Iraola also promoted youngster Lewis Koumas to the bench ahead of the likes of Harvey Elliott and for the trip to Newcastle, with the former starlet in a pickle heading into the final days of the window, though Italian clubs have posted an interest without making an official approach.

It means the coming days will be busy for sporting director Hughes, who is widely expected to leave the club in the next months. The biggest item on his to-do list is ticked off to take Liverpool’s summer from a failure to a pleasing window. But if Hughes wants to clink glasses with a smile on his leaving do, there are several other problem positions to sort out first.

After that, the onus will then be on Barcola. He is the fourth forward signed for £75million or more in the last year after Isak, Florian Wirtz and Ekitike. Fitness issues have hampered all of them, and the £100million men in particular have failed to succeed.

Barcola must be the man to buck that trend.