Bradley Barcola made a $166 million (£123 million) transfer move to Liverpool this summer, with Bayern Munich sporting director Max Eberl admitting his interest in the player
Bradley Barcola during Liverpool's win at Bournemouth
Bradley Barcola during Liverpool's win at Bournemouth(Image: Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images)
Bayern Munich sporting director Max Eberl says the German side admired Bradley Barcola when he was at Paris Saint-Germain — but was unable to compete with Liverpool for his signature.
After extensive negotiations this summer, then-sporting director Richard Hughes — now of Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia — agreed a deal worth around $166 million (£123 million) for Barcola, who started in Liverpool's win at Bournemouth over the weekend.
The player had been tracked by the Reds for some time and was sold on a move to the Premier League, where he is set to be a key man under Andoni Iraola in a star-studded forward line.
"To be honest, I have known Bradley since my time at Leipzig," Eberl told Sport BILD earlier this month.
"I wanted to bring him to RB Leipzig. We sat down together at the time and discussed it. That gave me a closer connection to Bradley, so there had always been interest.
"Naturally, we also considered Bradley at Bayern Munich. But when you hear figures like that, it was simply too much for us.
Bayern Munich signed Luis Diaz from Liverpool
Bayern Munich signed Luis Diaz from Liverpool(Image: Sebastian Widmann/Getty Images)
"With Luis Diaz, we made a decision that was also costly, but on a completely different scale compared to Bradley.
"On top of that, Diaz is a player that people come to the stadium to watch. We are extremely happy with him."
Though he is yet to score or assist for Liverpool, the talent and speed that Barcola has is already clear. The expectation is that he will add plenty of stardust once he has fully got to grips with the Premier League.
"When Barcola started last week against Fulham, I thought he was brilliant," Alan Shearer told Betfair.
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"There is no doubt he's got huge ability. He needs to add more goals to his game to be complete. But in terms of excitement and getting people off their seat, he'll do that in abundance."
Liverpool.com says: Barcola was only ever going to move to England because of his price tag, but Bayern Munich is not as poor as it often pleads. It was more than willing to pay huge money for Florian Wirtz, for instance.
Barcola looks ready to be a star for Liverpool, but he needs those around him to be performing well too. He, Wirtz and Cody Gakpo are still getting used to one another alongside Alexander Isak.