Liverpool Bombshell: Price doubles to record-breaking levels

The worst fears at Liverpool have come to be. What exactly does Richard Hughes do from here?

Liverpool need a winger. Quite badly, actually. Victor Munoz’s arrival is certainly fantastic but he’s not going to be enough all on his own.

After all, the Reds were in need of a new winger all of last season, having failed to replace Luis Diaz. Mohamed Salah then left and now they have essentially no one who can play reliably on the right flank.

Their no.1 target was Yan Diomande, but he picked Paris Saint-Germain (and then rejected them for Real Madrid). It leaves Liverpool looking at Bradley Barcola - a player they’ve eyed for some time now.

Anfield Watch reported back in April that Liverpool viewed Barcola as a market opportunity. Now, it turns out he absolutely is and that PSG are happy to sell him.

That comes after Barcola told his club that he wouldn’t renew his contract. Now they’re up for a transfer but with a gigantic catch.

The Athletic report that the asking price on the winger is currently €170m. That’s around £145m, or £20m more than the British transfer record.

To put it another way, PSG are willing to sell the winger who doesn’t get into their best XI for the third-highest fee in history. In fact, it would be the most ever paid by a club that isn’t PSG.

It’s insanity but also reflective of an incredibly stupid transfer market. Ben Jacobs reports that Liverpool initially had a look into Barcola last year, when he was valued at around €85m.

That price tag has doubled in that year, despite Barcola actually having a less productive season than he had the season before. That’s the state of the transfer market summed up, really.

This is a bombshell for Liverpool, who may now see themselves priced out of a move for their second target after losing out on their first. We’re not even sure where they’d go from here.