Bradley Barcola completed a £123m move to Liverpool from Paris Saint-Germain this summer, signing a five-year contract at Anfield on Monday.
PSG had previously valued the France international at around £145m, but Barcola became Andoni Iraola’s third major signing of the summer after Victor Munoz and Ronald Araujo, with Jeremy Jacquet having arrived in January.
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Barcola is now Liverpool’s second-most expensive signing of all time, behind Alexander Isak’s £125m move from Newcastle United last summer. He had been a long-term target and only wanted to join Liverpool.
With Barcola and Munoz, Liverpool believed they had achieved their objective of strengthening the wide areas and did not make any late additions.
Liverpool were not the only club interested in signing Barcola this summer, with several sides including Bayern Munich and Arsenal expressing interest.
According to The Athletic’s David Ornstein on the Sky Sports Transfer Talk podcast, Barcola was on Arsenal’s recruitment list, but he wanted to join Liverpool and Arsenal were not prepared to match the price the Reds ultimately paid.
Barcola will be available for selection when Liverpool face Ipswich Town in the Premier League on Friday night. The Frenchman trained with his new teammates earlier this week.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday morning, head coach Andoni Iraola said: “We are very happy with Bradley. It was our priority, let’s say, to sign a very, very good player in that position.
“I think he has come also with the right mentality. I’ve liked from him that he wanted Liverpool a lot. He just wanted to come here and I think that’s a good first sign.
“Being the player that he is and the things that he has won recently, I think he has come also with the willingness to help us. I’m very happy with him.
“He trained well with us. If everything goes well [in] today’s training also, he will definitely be available for tomorrow, yes.”
Asked whether Bradley Barcola is ready to start, Iraola replied: “It’s a good question, it’s a good question. I see him in a good place. He has trained with us in three trainings.
“It’s true that he hasn’t had minutes in pre-season but he has been training normal with the group. Then it’s a decision we have to make. “I think he’s in a good place but we also have to consider that he hasn’t had the minutes in the pre-season games.”
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