Bradley Barcola made his Liverpool debut in the 2-0 win at Ipswich on Friday, with the winger coming off the bench after completing his transfer from Paris Saint-Germain
IPSWICH, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 04: Bradley Barcola of Liverpool reacts during the warm up before the Premier League 2026/27 match between Ipswich Town and Liverpool FC at Portman Road on September 04, 2026 in Ipswich, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Bradley Barcola made his Liverpool debut against Ipswich(Image: Getty Images)
Bradley Barcola launched his Liverpool career with a substitute appearance at Ipswich Town on Friday. Barcola entered the action just past the hour mark for his first outing since featuring in France's third-place play-off loss to England at the World Cup.
A drawn-out transfer saga with Paris Saint-Germain ultimately concluded on Monday when Barcola signed for the Reds in a deal worth an initial $143 million (£106M), with an additional $23 million (£17M) included as performance-related add-ons. Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola expressed satisfaction with Barcola's showing and anticipates the winger will pose an increasing danger to opposing defenses.
While teammate Milos Kerkez is thrilled to welcome the French international to the squad, he revealed his next task is mastering the English language, reports the Liverpool Echo.
"Great player, doesn't speak English a lot," the left-back commented ahead of his side's triumph. "He has to learn English, but a good guy. A great player who will help us a lot for sure."
Reds chief Iraola acknowledged before the match: "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."
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola and left-back Milos Kerkez
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola and left-back Milos Kerkez(Image: Bill Barrett/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Reflecting on Barcola's contribution, Iraola noted: "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.
"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?
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"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 manager went on to say: "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."