By this point, close to three years on from his move to the French capital from Lyon, Barcola surely would have expected to be a guaranteed starter and key player for PSG, but that isn't how things have panned out.
Despite a solid debut season that yielded 14 goal contributions, Les Parisiens reinforced the left side of their attack in the summer of 2024 after Kylian Mbappe's exit, bringing in another promising young winger in Desire Doue, and that was swiftly followed by the blockbuster arrival of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in January 2025.
Barcola's 2024-25 campaign was actually exceptional (21 goals, 21 assists), but he was often overlooked in bigger games at the business end of the season, including the Champions League final against Inter, and rarely completed 90 minutes when he did start.
That theme continued in 2025-26, with his numbers falling off a cliff (13 goals, seven assists). Luis Enrique often made a point of resting his best players in Ligue 1 and saving them for the Champions League, and Barcola notably didn't start in the quarter-finals, semi-finals or final of another triumphant European campaign. He was also an unused substitute in the big league games against Lyon and Monaco in the first half of the season.