Bradley Barcola had long had his heart set on playing for Liverpool and he made his first appearance for the club when he came off the bench against Ipswich Town
Bradley Barcola before a Liverpool game
Bradley Barcola has been handed his first task as a Liverpool player(Image: (Adam Davy/PA Wire))
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Bradley Barcola started his Liverpool career with an appearance off the bench at Ipswich Town on Friday night. Barcola was introduced just after the hour mark for his first minutes since he appeared in France’s third-place play-off defeat to England at the World Cup.
A protracted transfer saga with PSG finally ended on Monday when Barcola arrived at Anfield for an initial £106m, with a further £17m part of the package in add-ons. Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola was pleased with Barcola’s display and expects the winger to become a greater threat to opposition defences.
And while team-mate Milos Kerkez is delighted to have the French international at the club, he told him his next challenge is to learn English.
“Great player, doesn’t speak English a lot,” the left-back said before his side’s victory. “He has to learn English, but a good guy. A great player who will help us a lot for sure.”
Reds boss Iraola admitted before the game: “He (Barcola) is improving his English, he has his French now with (Jeremy) Jacquet and (Hugo) Ekitike he is more comfortable with but I think he has been really good for being the first week, he has trained really well and I hope he does well straight away.”
And reflecting on Barcola’s performance, Iraola said: “I think Bradley hadn't played a single minute since the World Cup so we needed to be careful.
“I think he is training well, in a good place, and I think that he has helped us. Probably, we haven't found him in a couple of situations where I think he was going against the 'keeper, but we haven't really seen his movements.
Bradley Barcola on his debut for Liverpool against Ipswich Town
Bradley Barcola made his debut for Liverpool against Ipswich Town(Image: Getty Images)
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“And also he has had a very good counter, very good passing side that I think Cody finished, but we didn't score. But he was always a threat, you know?
“When he carries the ball, I think you can feel this threat and I'm happy because I think 30 minutes is going to be good for his fitness, for his build-up, and we will continue because now we play a lot of games, so he will have a chance to play more.”
The Liverpool boss added: “I think it's normal, he hasn't played any pre-season minutes. I think he's still in a good place.
"I don't think he will need something like a very special build-up, but we have to be aware that he hasn't been playing in a while and the demands of the games are very different from training, so we have got to consider this.”