Why Liverpool must sign £80m Premier League winger over Barcola

The absence of Mohamed Salah will be keenly felt at Anfield next season, but Liverpool have a job to do, and they need to find a way to overcome the culmination of a club legend’s journey.

Salah was a one-of-a-kind player for the Reds, someone who defied logic with the volume of his goals and his assists and his sheer will to win.

A Premier League legend, Salah left on a free transfer at the end of the 2025/26 season, and it may well have been his toughest in English football.

Arne Slot’s demise was conjoined to the Egyptian King’s own decline. In the end, Slot and Salah could not escape each other, and neither will play on Merseyside next year when that seemed a given only 14 months ago, as Slot’s Liverpool lifted the Premier League trophy, Salah having been the architect of that triumph.

Now, though, the Reds need a new talisman, and Bradley Barcola is at the top of the list.

The latest on Bradley Barcola to Liverpool

Liverpool threw the kitchen sink at RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande, having already seen an offer knocked back for the Ivory Coast winger, but he leveraged a potential move to Paris Saint-Germain through Anfield’s advances, and will not be moving to Merseyside this summer.

No time for FSG to feel hot under the collar; Liverpool have a job to do now that Salah has departed, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that PSG’s Barcola is the new top target.

Barcola would not be a terrible fallback. The 23-year-old has scored 34 goals and supplied 28 assists across the past two years with PSG, carrying that form out across the pond with his country.

Indeed, Barcola has made a menace of himself at the World Cup. He is not Mbappe, but he is still a formidable part of a French frontline who have established themselves as favourites for the trophy.

As analyst Ben Mattinson puts it, he is “one of the best left wingers in the world”. That’s all well and good, but Liverpool have already signed Victor Munoz from Osasuna for £34.5m this summer, and Cody Gakpo should remain at the club too.

Liverpool need a right-sided forward, and sporting director Richard Hughes may want to pivot to a different target instead.

Why Liverpool should sign Premier League star instead of Barcola

Barcola is undoubtedly talented, but he is not a natural right winger, so signing him to replace Salah might not be the most auspicious move that FSG could make this summer.

After all, L’Equipe in France believe that PSG will only consider selling the Le Bleus international for a £128m fee, and that would take him above Alexander Isak as the Premier League’s record signing.

Liverpool cannot afford to make a hash of this, and with that important fact in mind, it seems that Andoni Iraola’s side could instead turn their attention toward Brighton & Hove Albion’s Yankuba Minteh.

That’s according to TEAMtalk, who claim that the £80m-rated winger could be on the move this summer, and Liverpool are right at the front of the queue.

Minteh might not have the acclaim that Barcola has enjoyed over the past several years, but he is proven within the Premier League and said to have enough quality as to “reach Sadio Mane level”, according to one Serbian football scout.

The 21-year-old is fast and ferocious down the right, capable of winning plenty of duels and dazzling with his dribbling. His attacking approach? Variegated. He can score and he can assist.

It might be more effective that Liverpool replace Salah with a different profile, thereby avoiding a hopeless attempt of replicating the impossible, instead making something new of Iraola’s right wing.

And given that the right-footed Barcola has been described as being “the closest thing” to Salah on the market right now, according to Anfield Index’s Dave Hendrick, you can perhaps understand why he shouldn’t be targeted, for his hopes of hitting the same beats would surely fall flat. Minteh, instead, would bring something new, with a high-octane approach that would cater perfectly to Iraola’s style of football.

Replacing Salah with a like-for-like player would be a difficult one. Say Liverpool moved to sign Vinicius Junior, there are so many issues that could arise.

Instead, FSG are willing to move for someone without the tag of ‘superstar’, and Minteh could be that man, quickly developing into a top Premier League winger, but still with a lot to prove.

His pace and willingness to get stuck in are bound to have seen Iraola play a part in guiding him up the shortlist, and it’s a deal that Liverpool need to complete.

If rumours are to be believed, and Barcola would cost a record-breaking sum in England, surely Minteh is the signing to prioritise.

After all, he’s far more confortable off the right, and isn’t that rather important when picking someone to replace Salah?

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