Bradley Barcola says he has not yet reached his best form at Liverpool, months after his £123m move from Paris Saint-Germain. The winger insists that the best version of him is still to come, and that his team-mates are learning how to make the most of his strengths.
Big money signings can take time to get going at their new club, and there are plenty at Liverpool who can testify to that. Looking out over the training ground at the club’s AXA training facility, a visitor can see some of the club’s biggest-money stars walking off a pitch after a recovery session. It is a formidable amount of attacking talent.
Two of them are Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz, who arrived in deals that could reach a combined £241m. The jury is still out on both. Isak has only just started delivering the goal tally that was expected of him, while many believe Wirtz is yet to get going on Merseyside.
This year, Barcola is the latest marquee signing, and a slow start at Anfield brought familiar concerns about recent buys. After the move, he failed to score or assist in his first 10 games for club and country this season. Then came some encouraging signs. A hat-trick in Liverpool’s thumping Champions League win over LASK was followed by back-to-back assists in wins over tricky opponents Brighton and Brentford.
Barcola failed to find the target in the most recent match, a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal, but his running in the first half caused the Premier League champions plenty of problems. Isak and Wirtz did not start this quickly, so is Barcola finally starting to justify that hefty fee?
“No, I don’t think I’m at my best yet,” Barcola says. “You still haven’t seen the best version of me.
“On top of that, we’re working with my team-mates so that they can make the most of my strengths.
“So yes, I think once we really develop that understanding, things will get much better. And I think things are improving all the time.
“People are beginning to understand my style of play much better. I think it’s going much better.”
Living in Salah’s shadow
Isak arrived as the British record transfer last year, and Wirtz joined as the golden boy of German football. Barcola has arrived under different and arguably more demanding circumstances. He is the marquee attacking signing in the wake of Mohamed Salah’s departure this summer. Salah gave Anfield his world-class ability and delivered titles, while Barcola arrived as a back-to-back European champion with Paris Saint-Germain.
Signings of this scale bring expectation, and expectation brings pressure. Barcola insists he feels none of it, whether from the huge price tag or from Salah’s legacy at the club.
“First of all, I wasn’t the one who decided the transfer fee,” he says. “So that’s not been my problem.
“And regarding Mo Salah, he’s a legend here. A huge one. He’s done big things here and for that I have an enormous respect for him. But it’s not pressure for me at all.
“I’m not Mohamed Salah, so I’m going to try to contribute whatever I can to the club and make my own mark on its history. I don’t feel any pressure about that.”
A role on the bench at PSG
Those final words feel pertinent. Barcola has already enjoyed huge success, winning the Champions League at PSG in two successive seasons. Yet he was often used as a back-up option under Luis Enrique. The French winger was a regular in domestic football, which helped deliver league titles, but in the big Champions League ties against the best sides, he often had to settle for a place on the bench.
His competition was strong. Ousmane Dembele, Kvicha Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue were ahead of him, while Fabian Ruiz, Vitinha and Joao Neves were also in the squad. That context explains why he rejected a new contract at the club, pushed for a new challenge and eventually moved on.
“For me, it was the right time to leave PSG,” he recalls. “I spent so many great years there and I won an enormous amount of trophies. But it was time.
“It was quite difficult because, over there, it was a real family. We’d built something very special together. On top of that, it was very difficult to leave and say goodbye to my team-mates. But ultimately, that’s just how football is.
“When a club like Liverpool comes calling, it’s a great thing. I didn’t have any doubts and I just knew I had to come here. I’m happy to be here, and I hope things go well for PSG.”
Patience required
Barcola won almost everything there was to win at PSG last season, but at Liverpool there may need to be more patience. Andoni Iraola has clearly improved the Reds after Arne Slot’s flawed final year, yet defeats to Manchester City and Arsenal at Anfield have shown how far they are from the elite.
The 1-0 loss to Arsenal at the weekend saw Liverpool fail to register a shot on target at home for the first time since Premier League data records began. They sit second-bottom in the league this season for big chances created. If Arsenal set the standard, Liverpool have plenty of work to do.
So should expectations be tempered? “No, I don’t think it has changed the goals for the season,” Barcola says. “I think we should have done better in a game like this. We had the chances to score, even to win the match.
“I think we need to work on being able to control the game more and play more football. Often, when we’re in a game like this, we resort to long balls. But in my opinion, we should try to keep the ball on the ground more, because we have players with the quality to do that.
“We were really disappointed after the game but we know what we have to do better at. We’re not going to give up. We know that other teams will drop points. So it’s down to us to remain consistent until the end of the season.”
Barcola and his team-mates now need to get back on the training pitch, because there is plenty of work to be done. Liverpool face Fenerbahce in the Champions League on Wednesday before travelling to take on Crystal Palace on Sunday, with kick-off at 2pm.