Liverpool Pursue Bradley Barcola as Diomande Deal Stalls

Liverpool’s search for a successor to Mohamed Salah has taken a sharp turn, with the club opening talks for Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola after seeing their long-running pursuit of Yan Diomande hit a wall.

For months, Fenway Sports Group have viewed Diomande at RB Leipzig as the ideal heir to Salah. Young, explosive, already starring for Ivory Coast at the 2026 World Cup – he ticked every box. Liverpool spoke to his camp, laid the groundwork and waited for an opening.

It has not arrived.

Leipzig have made it clear they do not want to sell. Diomande, just 19, is in no rush to force the issue. On top of that, he is understood to favour a move to PSG over a switch to Anfield. Two problems, both significant, both out of Liverpool’s control.

So the focus has shifted to Paris – and to Barcola.

Liverpool test PSG resolve over Barcola

On June 29, Sky Sport Switzerland journalist Sacha Tavolieri reported that Liverpool are in direct contact with PSG regarding the France international. Posting on X at 12:53pm, he revealed that PSG have already spoken with several clubs, Liverpool among them, about a possible transfer for Barcola.

Crucially, Tavolieri added that Diomande’s impending move to PSG “automatically opens the door” to Barcola’s departure, with the winger expected to leave the Parc des Princes this summer. One in, one out. PSG reload, and a window opens for Liverpool.

TEAMtalk have since gone a step further, claiming Liverpool have made fresh contact with Barcola’s representatives this week. Their report states that club sources confirm renewed talks with the player’s agents in recent days and, more importantly for Liverpool, “further encouragement” that the 23-year-old is preparing to leave Paris before the window closes.

That is exactly the kind of signal Liverpool needed. A willing seller is one thing. A willing player is another.

A serial winner on the market

Barcola is not agitating from the fringes of a struggling side. Since arriving at PSG in 2023, he has stacked up medals at a rate most players never experience.

Ligue 1 three times.
Coupe de France twice.
The Champions League on two occasions.

He is now part of Didier Deschamps’ France squad at the World Cup, another sign of his growing stature. Yet despite that success, the door is open for a move. Diomande’s expected arrival, a crowded attacking line and PSG’s perpetual need to balance a superstar-heavy squad all point towards at least one major sale.

Liverpool sense an opportunity.

They also know it will be expensive.

TEAMtalk report that PSG value Barcola at around €120 million (£103.3m). That figure mirrors what PSG themselves would likely need to pay Leipzig to land Diomande. In other words, if Liverpool want Barcola, they are stepping straight into Champions League-winner territory, both in pedigree and in price.

A Salah-sized decision

For Liverpool, the stakes are obvious. Salah’s departure leaves not just a hole on the right flank, but a gap in goals, aura and reliability. Diomande was the first-choice vision for the future. Barcola now represents a different route to the same problem: how do you rebuild an attack that has revolved around one man for years?

The club have moved quickly, making contact with PSG and with Barcola’s camp while the World Cup plays out and the market shifts daily around them. The interest is real on all sides. The fee is huge. The timing is delicate.

If Liverpool push ahead and meet PSG’s demands, Barcola walks into Anfield as one of the most expensive signings in the club’s history and a central figure in the post-Salah era.

If they balk at the price, someone else will.