There was a time in the not-too-distant past when Liverpool paying anything more than £50-60m for a player felt like an anomaly.
The Reds did go big on Virgil van Dijk at £75m in 2018, and big moves soon followed for Naby Keita and Alisson Becker, but it still felt that Liverpool were more focused on finding value in the market and signing players with room to develop and grow, rather than paying massive sums on proven entities.
Something has shifted in the past 12 months, however, and though Liverpool are yet to see much of a return on the combined £241m they spent to buy Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak last summer, they appear ready to pay a nine-figure sum to land Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain.
How high should Liverpool go to sign Bradley Barcola from PSG?
Maybe Liverpool would be better off signing two or three €50m players…
Liverpool have already tried to sign Yan Diomande for approaching £100m, and they may have to fork out a similar fee for Barcola, with the Daily Mail reporting that PSG are looking for a whopping £140m to let the 23-year-old go.
Interestingly, the Mail also claim that when Liverpool looked into signing Barcola in 2025, the French giants quoted them £75m at the time. One year on, there is no chance that the former Lyon forward’s value has sky-rocketed to £65m more.
Liverpool should not go above £80m for Barcola
2024/25 was comfortably the best season of Barcola’s career after he hit 39 goal contributions in 58 appearances.
Though 2025/26 was still productive, his numbers dropped dramatically. 21 goals became 13, while instead of laying on 18 goals for his PSG teammates, Barcola set up only eight.
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There are other factors that go into a valuation, of course, and PSG are said to have one eye on the fees being paid out for the likes of Morgan Rogers and Elliot Anderson in the Premier League, but it is hard to see how Barcola’s value can have shot up quite so much.
Had PSG valued the France international at £140m on the back of his stellar season in 24/25, it would still have felt like a lot, but his numbers put him up there with some of the very best forwards in the world.
£75m 12 months ago was probably a little low, but Liverpool should be using that as a yardstick for any deal this summer.
By all accounts Barcola is keen to join the Reds, and with it having been made clear that he will not be signing a new contract, his value is now dropping all the time. If they pay anything even close to £140m for him, Liverpool will have been ripped off in a big way.
How much will PSG realistically accept?
PSG must know that there is no chance they will be recouping £140m for Barcola. As a result, their public valuation of the player feels like a case of setting the bar high and leaving room to come down.
Nevertheless, it is also clear that Liverpool are going to have to pay a huge amount for the Frenchman, even if it does not touch what would be a British record transfer fee.
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After missing out on Diomande, Liverpool have become a little desperate in their search for a new wing signing. PSG will know that, and it obviously strengthens their hand.
So, between the two quoted prices of £75m and £140m, it feels like a middle ground can probably be met.
Something around £105m would be an island between the two seas, and although it still feels like PSG would be getting the better end of that deal, it could be just about palatable for Liverpool.
The Reds are in danger of leaving it late in the window again to sign the players they need to compete next season, and by doing that you always leave yourself open to over-paying.
At the end of the day, questions should really be asked about why Liverpool chose to pass up on Barcola last summer only to come back in for him at a higher price. But the time for those questions will come later, for now, the Reds must tie up this deal and make peace with the fact that if they are to secure Barcola, it means accepting that they will be taken to the cleaners to some degree by PSG.
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