Liverpool have reached an agreement with Paris Saint-Germain for Bradley Barcola. The fee is £100m guaranteed plus £20m in add-ons, a package worth up to £120m. Personal terms are agreed and documents are due to be exchanged within 24 hours. The move is not official yet.
Fabrizio Romano reported the agreement, with the structure confirmed by This Is Anfield, TeamTalk and football365. The 23-year-old France winger is set to sign a five-year contract through to 2031 and has chosen the number 29 shirt, vacant at Anfield since Arthur Melo’s loan spell.
A record that beats our own last news story
If the deal completes on these terms it will be the biggest sale in Ligue 1 history to a foreign club — larger than Neymar’s move to Al-Hilal in 2023 and larger than Ayyoub Bouaddi’s transfer to Manchester City, which we covered earlier this week.
Barcola joined PSG from Lyon in 2023 for around €45m. In three seasons he made 152 appearances, scoring 39 goals and providing 37 assists. Liverpool are rebuilding their attack after Mohamed Salah’s departure.
When he will play
A debut looks realistic on 4 September away at Ipswich, in Gameweek 3. There is an important caveat: Barcola’s last competitive match was on 14 July, France’s World Cup semi-final. That is six weeks without football, so manager Andoni Iraola will likely assess his sharpness first.
What it means for your FPL squad
The simple part first: Barcola is not in the game’s database, so you cannot buy him before tomorrow’s deadline. He will be added once registered, at a price set by the game.
What matters more is who this affects right now.
Gakpo — and an honest word about our own recommendation
Cody Gakpo carries an AI Rating of 89, scored 12 points in Gameweek 1 — the best return at Liverpool — and is owned by just 5.7% of managers. We flagged him as a differential on Wednesday and again this morning.
This signing changes that. According to TeamTalk, Barcola’s arrival threatens Gakpo’s place, and the Dutchman has reportedly made clear he is open to joining Tottenham. Liverpool would prefer to keep him until January, but this is no longer a player you buy without thinking.
Our recommendation changes: if you were planning to bring Gakpo in before tomorrow’s deadline, wait for Friday’s press conference and team news. If you already own him, do not panic — Liverpool host Nottingham Forest on Saturday and Barcola will not feature — but keep watching ahead of Gameweek 3.
This is a good moment to say the obvious thing that is easy to forget: our model reads football data, not transfer reports. That 89 describes a player who played the full 90 minutes and returned 12 points on opening weekend. It does not know his club agreed a £120m deal for a winger yesterday. We made the same point about Watkins this morning — today it applies to someone we were recommending ourselves.
Who is safe
Dominik Szoboszlai (rating 90, the only Strong Buy in the game, 42.9% ownership) plays centrally, not out wide. His role is untouched by this and he remains the highest-rated player in the game.
Less comfortable is Florian Wirtz (rating 84, 11.7% ownership), who came off after 62 minutes in Gameweek 1 and now faces another rival for an attacking place.
A separate note on Alexander Isak (£9.0m, 16.6% ownership): he rates 60 with us and we flagged him earlier as a premium trap. The fact that the club is spending £120m on a winger rather than addressing the centre-forward situation does not improve that.
Liverpool’s fixtures
Nottingham Forest at home on Saturday at 12.30pm, then a trip to Ipswich on Friday 4 September — one of the easier fixtures on their schedule and the likely debut. After that Fulham at home and away to Bournemouth. The run is decent, which raises the value of Liverpool assets — provided you know which ones will be playing.
How much time is left
The transfer window shuts at 11pm UK time on 1 September, and the FPL Gameweek 2 deadline is 6.30pm tomorrow. If Liverpool announce the deal before Friday evening, Barcola may appear in the game — but he will not play in this round regardless.
Status as of Thursday 27 August: agreement in principle, personal terms agreed, documents being exchanged, no official confirmation from either club. We will update this article once the move is announced. Sources: Fabrizio Romano, This Is Anfield, TeamTalk, football365.