PSG are understood to have submitted a bid of £25.8m for Lyon’s Bradley Barcola
Fabrice Hawkins shared the update on X, with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and ‘another big English club’ also expressing interest in the wideman whom Liverpool are understood to have scouted (Fabrizio Romano via GFN).
❗️Le PSG insiste toujours pour Bradley Barcola.
➡️ Dernière offre : 30M€ + bonus refusée par l’OL. Discussions entre PSG et Lyon en cours🔹L’attaquant de 20 ans est un choix de Luis Enrique
🔹Manchester City + un autre grand club anglais sont là aussi pic.twitter.com/QTkZdNSyWU— Fabrice Hawkins (@FabriceHawkins) August 7, 2023
The 20-year-old, who featured across the forward line last term, amassed a respectable 17 goal contributions from 35 appearances (across all competitions), working out a rate of a goal or assist every 125.17 minutes.
His ability to impact games in such a manner surprised current manager Laurent Blanc who lavished him with praise that some might dare say invites parallels to a certain Egyptian’s style of play.
“He surprises me on a physical level. He doesn’t second-guess himself… he scores goals, even though he is not necessarily an out-and-out striker,” the former PSG coach was quoted as saying by Ligue 1’s official website. “He can easily eliminate his opponents with his technical finesse and speed.”
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Whilst we can more than understand our reported interest in the Frenchman in light of his age profile and versatility.
There’ll be no rush to find Mo Salah’s long-term successor this window (or in the next for that matter), though it’s a conversation that will perhaps be seriously broached come the next summer.
With 17-year-old Ben Doak having emerged as an exciting option on the right flank following a highly impressive pre-season showing, we’ll be curious to see what kind of impact he’ll have on any potential search.
We’d expect a comparatively more senior option to be favoured when the time does come to complete one of the most difficult replacement jobs in world football. Partly to ensure we’re not left short on experience nor, potentially, to block the development pathway of our young Scot.