Bradley Barcola: Liverpool are risking £100m for a new Mo Salah

Liverpool are ready to spend a fortune on Bradley Barcola. Here's why they're risking £100m for a new Mohamed Salah.

Mohamed Salah left Liverpool this summer and it has been a slog to replace him. There are just days remaining but finally, the Reds have got their man: Bradley Barcola.

Now, you'll correctly point out that Barcola doesn't even play in the same position. He's a left-sided player, Salah's a right-sided player.

But Liverpool have had to pivot here. There are no good options on the right who can come close to recreating Salah's overall impact. Genuinely, there are none. All of the ones who might are tied down to elite clubs, with Yan Diomande having been the only high-potential option that Liverpool had a shot at.

So the club had to go for the other side, despite the fact they're packed with options there. We imagine a right-winger will follow, just one who's more of a squad option than a superstar.

Barcola, though, is that superstar. Our Value Adder model has him down as one of the absolute best in the world and his 2024/25 campaign, in particular, was an incredible standout.

In fact, we rank him as the fourth-best winger in the world that season, behind Salah, Raphinha and Michael Olise.

But the real win here is how Barcola trends alongside Salah as an option. As in, a winger who wants to produce goals and assists as a final option, rather than necessarily get involved in buildup.

The above highlights that lack of being a go-to creative option. The pair of them contribute far, far fewer final actions that someone like Michael Olise - teams turn to them to finish moves, rather than get involved en masse.

That then turns into the first chart: two players with high goals and assists.

And as a goalscorer, Barcola is up there with the best in terms of consistency. He's a high-shot player with a high conversion rate, nearly making the top-10-per-cent mark in both metrics for wingers across Europe's top five leagues (again, 24/25).

And that, ultimately, is what Liverpool want. They're after a new Salah - a goalscoring winger who can get in position for lots of chances and then take them.

But there's another factor: doing it in a high-possession team. That was a massive fault last season and Liverpool struggled to break down deep teams when the Reds dominated the ball.

Barcola, though, is highly experienced and skilled at this.

As shown above, Barcola isn't just a goalscorer in a high-possession team but also a chance creator. That's the job in replacing Salah: doing both. Liverpool have paid massively for Barcola but they're ultimately doing it because he's one of the remarkably few players in world football who can do what Salah did.