Bradley Barcola\u2019s move to Liverpool is moving into its final stages, with the 23-year-old due for a medical as one of the summer\u2019s major transfer stories reaches its close.<\/p>\n
Liverpool have agreed a compromise after PSG\u2019s original valuation of $197 million, bringing an end to a deal that had developed despite the European champions adding Maghnes Akliouche, Ferran Torres and Mika Godts to their attacking depth. Barcola, who scored 13 times in all competitions last season, is now set to join Andoni Iraola\u2019s side for the rest of the campaign.<\/p>\n
Once the full package is completed, the transfer will stand as the second-most expensive in Premier League history. It will sit just behind Alexander Isak\u2019s $170 million move to Liverpool last summer.<\/p>\n
The next question is the one every new arrival faces: which shirt number will he take?<\/p>\n
Mohamed Salah\u2019s old No. 11 would be the most striking option, but several others are currently free. The vacant numbers include 13, 16, 17, 24, 26, 27, 29, 31 and 32. Liverpool have already retired No. 20 after Diogo Jota\u2019s death last summer, so that shirt is not available. There is still some uncertainty over whether Cody Gakpo\u2019s 18 or Harvey Elliott\u2019s 19 could become free before the window closes.<\/p>\n
Barcola\u2019s own history suggests he is used to changing. He has worn 7, 8 and 26 at Lyon, then 19 and most recently 29 at PSG. For France, he has kept 12 over the past two seasons.<\/p>\n
Even so, he has made it clear that one number means more to him than the rest. Speaking to Club Legacyz, Barcola described No.29 as \u201csymbolic\u201d and explained why.<\/p>\n
He revealed: \u201cWhen I was younger, I used to play FIFA. In the story mode with Alex Hunter, this number became symbolic for me. I thought to myself: \u2018The day I go pro, it\u2019ll be number 29.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Barcola\u2019s Liverpool move nears completion, and the shirt number he chooses may reveal plenty about his preference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18847,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[1836,180,182],"class_list":["post-18848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-player-news","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}