Liverpool keen on signing £77m World Cup winner

Liverpool plumbed depths they didn’t believe were in front of them under Arne Slot’s management last season, falling heavily by the wayside in what can only be described as a disastrous Premier League title defence.

Though the Reds managed to cling onto the fifth Champions League spot on the final day of the term, there was no question that Slot’s race was run. Toxicity levels had risen, and Anfield had become a hotbed of frustration and discontent.

The Andoni Iraola marks the start of an uncertain chapter, but the Spanish coach does promise to give rise to the high-intensity football that Liverpool have come to recognise as their identity.

Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah failed to produce such results for Slot across 2025/26, but FSG are determined to fix that by handing the new boss a superstar in the form of Paris Saint-Germain’s Bradley Barcola.

What’s the latest on Barcola to Liverpool

In short, Liverpool are emerging as the favourites to sign Barcola this summer. The £128m-rated attacker has also been of a vested interest to Arsenal, but they don’t appear to be matching FSG’s intensity – albeit, Chelsea have won the race to sign Morgan Rogers, so the Gunners could ramp things up over the coming weeks.

As far as the player is concerned, he would be open to exploring a move to the Premier League, frustrated after two highly successful years with PSG, having never quite cemented himself as a leading man in Luis Enrique’s star-studded frontline.

The France sensation is unquestionably excellent. He has notched 62 goal contributions across the past two years for PSG, winning back-to-back Champions League titles, knocking Slot’s Liverpool out on both counts.

He has also been hailed as “one of the best left wingers in the world” by talent scout Jacek Kulig, with his stylish and unique dribbling style making him a tough adversary for even the meanest of defenders. At the World Cup, he showcased this, as well as his ever-improving clinical edge in front of goal.

Whether Liverpool test the waters with a formal approach depends on PSG’s stance, on whether they might shift on those exorbitant demands.

If PSG fail to budge on their £128m valuation, there’s no question that Barcola would need to make an instantaneous impact as a superstar, someone who rivals the best attackers in the league and helps Liverpool challenge for the title.

Is he that good in his current form? Perhaps not, and with that in mind, Liverpool could focus their attention on a far more exciting deal.

Liverpool plotting move for Barcola alternative

Barcola is a top-class forward, but he’s not the only exciting winger on the market. In fact, he wasn’t even Liverpool’s first choice, with the Reds pushing to sign Yan Diomande before the Ivory Coast sensation intimated his preference to join the French giants.

If recent reports are to be believed, Liverpool could instead pivot to Spain’s World Cup sensation Nico Williams, who placed the all-important assist that led to Ferran Torres’ winning goal in the World Cup final on Sunday.

Indeed, TEAMtalk believe that Liverpool and Arsenal have revived their interest in the Athletic Bilbao sensation, who came within a whisker of signing for Barcelona last year.

The 24-year-old has a £77m release clause in his contract with the Gunners, and while Arsenal appear to be in the driving seat, Liverpool have a long-standing admiration, and they could accelerate those plans if Arsenal turn their head toward Barcola.

The thing is, though, Williams may actually be the better signing to make. Not only would he cost around £50m less than the Frenchman, but his unpredictable and unceasing running down the flanks could make him the better signing for an Iraola outfit that will need high-intensity attackers to maintain the charge. He is still “among the best wingers in the world” too according to Dani Carvajal.

Barcola is exciting, but he too is imperfect. He scored 13 goals across Ligue 1 and the Champions League last year, but also missed 25 big chances. Can Liverpool afford to assist such a profligate, Nunez-esque shooter next year, after last season’s woes in front of goal?

Williams only scored six times in La Liga, but he missed just four big chances. In a Liverpool side aiming to cement themselves as a creative superpower, he could be quite the sensation down the channels.

In the past, he had been dubbed “world-class” by journalist Zach Lowy, but there’s no question that Williams has ebbed and flowed since winning the 2024 EUROs with his nation. The past two years have been tough at times, but he has shown on the biggest stage of them all that class is permanent, and that he can yet become a superstar for a club like Liverpool.

Arsenal’s vested interest could pose a problem, but Williams is worth pushing to sign. He is fast and furious in a way that the best wingers manage to utilise to their advantage. Even last season, not at his best, he averaged 2.7 dribbles per La Liga match, emphasising the kind of unrelenting running that Iraola could develop into something special.

Like Barcola, he is a natural-born champion. Either attacker would be a credit to Iraola’s system, but Williams, £50m cheaper, could be a far better and more exciting transfer for FSG to make.