Barcola joins Liverpool from PSG in deal worth up to £123m as Gakpo stays put

By Jack Shaw · Liverpool · Published: 22:58 BST

• Liverpool have completed the signing of France forward Bradley Barcola from Paris St-Germain for a fee worth up to £123m.
• The deal was done on Monday, with the summer transfer window closing at 23:00 BST on Tuesday.
• Cody Gakpo now looks set to stay at Anfield, with Manchester City’s £80m move for him close to collapse.

Liverpool have spent big, and spent late. The Barcola Liverpool transfer went through on Monday, the France forward arriving from Paris St-Germain for a fee worth up to £123m — a figure at the very top end of a window that shuts at 23:00 BST on Tuesday. And in one signing, it has redrawn the last 24 hours of Liverpool’s business.

Barcola Liverpool transfer: the deal, and what it does to Gakpo

Liverpool had been willing to let Cody Gakpo join Manchester City — but only if a replacement arrived first, according to BBC Sport. Barcola is that replacement. He is not, however, enough on his own: the Anfield club are understood to want a further attacking player before they would sanction Gakpo’s exit, and that second deal has not materialised.

So City’s proposed £80m move for Gakpo is now close to collapsing. The 27-year-old, who has scored 51 goals in all competitions since arriving from PSV in 2023, is expected to stay unless Liverpool can revive a move for another winger in the final hours; approaches for Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh and Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr have both stalled over valuation. City have moved on, agreeing a deal worth up to £65m with Everton for Iliman Ndiaye and opening talks with Chelsea over Enzo Fernandez. For the full chronological timeline of deadline week, follow the rolling coverage at JOE Sport.

The expert angle: £123m is the price of leaving it late

Here is the uncomfortable read on this deal: Liverpool have paid a premium for timing. A selling club with 24 hours left on the clock, facing a buyer who has already agreed in principle to move his own winger on, holds every card in the negotiation. PSG did not need to blink, and the number reflects it.

The squad logic, though, is cleaner than the accounting. Liverpool’s original plan looks to have been a straight swap in value terms — Gakpo out, Barcola in, the books roughly balanced. What they may now end up with instead is both players, which is not a failure so much as depth bought at a bad exchange rate. For a side facing four competitions, two senior options for the same flank is a problem most managers would take.

The counter-argument deserves its hearing. In a market where Chelsea want a minimum of £120m for a midfielder and Newcastle are paying up to £55m for a 21-year-old, £123m for a France international at an elite club is close to the going rate — and the clubs that hesitate at 22:59 on deadline day are the ones left holding nothing. Liverpool did not hesitate. Whether that reads as decisive or as panic will be settled on the pitch, not the spreadsheet.

Wrap-up

One window, one £123m forward, and a Netherlands international who looked packed and ready to leave now staying put. Has Barcola made Liverpool stronger — or just more expensive? For more from a frantic deadline week, read our report on Tottenham signing Omar Marmoush on loan from Manchester City.

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