Barcola targets league title with Liverpool after joining for £124m

France winger Bradley Barcola has become Liverpool’s second-most expensive signing after joining the Premier League giants from Paris Saint-Germain on Monday evening.

A source close to PSG told AFP Barcola’s transfer was worth “€125m (R2.3bn) plus €20m (R375m) in easily achievable bonuses”.

The total fee of £124m (R2.715bn) is second only to the £125m (R2.738bn) Liverpool paid Newcastle for Sweden star Alexander Isak.

Barcola’s fee is the highest ever paid for a Ligue 1 player.

It is also the 10th £100m-plus (R2.1bn) transfer in Premier League history and the fourth such deal completed this summer.

The 23-year-old is the third forward costing over £100m that Liverpool have signed in two years.

Isak arrived at Anfield in 2025 and Liverpool also paid about £100m to sign Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen.

Neither player has lived up to the hefty price tag yet, though Isak missed much of last season due to injury.

Barcola, who signed what Liverpool said was a “long-term deal”, had yet to play for PSG this season amid the transfer speculation.

“It’s a great pride to be able to play for Liverpool. I’m very happy,” he told his new club’s website on Monday.

“It took a long time, but I’m really happy today to be able to play for Liverpool and all I want is to be on the pitch and be able to play.

“I hope to achieve very big things. First of all, winning the Premier League — it’s one of the biggest dreams in my life.

“It is to do that and to stay in this team in the long-term — that’s why I signed a long contract — and I hope I can do it.”

Barcola, a member of the PSG squad which won back-to-back Champions League titles in the past two seasons, has long been a Liverpool target.

He scored 39 goals in 152 appearances and won three successive Ligue 1 titles during his time in the French capital after joining PSG from domestic rivals Lyon in a £38.6m (R846m) deal in 2023.

Barcola also scored three goals for France during their run to the semi-finals at the recent World Cup.

Liverpool have looked to strengthen in wide areas since Mohamed Salah’s departure at the end of last season.

Luis Diaz’s departure the season before left Liverpool’s forwards without service from the wings.

They have already signed Spain World Cup-winning winger Victor Munoz from Osasuna in the current transfer window, and he has made a bright start, scoring the equaliser in Liverpool’s 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, which followed the same scoreline in their Premier League opener at Newcastle on August 23.

Barcola is expected to play on the left wing, with Cody Gakpo pushed down the pecking order and linked with a move to Manchester City.

Barcola’s arrival at Anfield sees him reunited with former PSG teammate and current fellow France international Hugo Ekitike, who is recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon.

“I don’t know Jeremy [Jacquet], but I was able to talk to Hugo, who I met in the French team and in my old club,” Barcola said.

“He was waiting for me to sign the contract, sending me messages often asking me if I was coming or not.

“I can’t wait to get back together and be able to play with him. I already said [told him] that it is done.”

Barcola was not always first-choice at PSG, with Ousmane Dembele, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue providing stiff competition for places, but he still played a key part in their Champions League triumphs. — AFP