Liverpool supporters may have to wait before seeing Bradley Barcola in action for the first time since his $166 million (\u00a3123 million) move from Paris Saint-Germain.<\/p>\n
Although the forward is naturally deployed on the left, there has been speculation that he could eventually fill Mohamed Salah\u2019s role. For the moment, though, the timing of his first appearance remains uncertain.<\/p>\n
Barcola has not played since coming on at half-time for former teammate D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Dou\u00e9 during France\u2019s 6-4 defeat to England in the World Cup third-place match on July 18. His summer was also interrupted by a delayed holiday, which kept him out of PSG\u2019s preseason. After returning, he was only named among the substitutes for the UEFA Super Cup and then omitted from the club\u2019s first three Ligue 1 matches.<\/p>\n
By late July, his wish to join Liverpool was already clear, but the two clubs still had to agree a fee. PSG were initially holding out for a far higher valuation of \u00a3145 million ($195.7 million), and Barcola\u2019s situation also meant he was not part of Luis Enrique\u2019s plans. The Paris side\u2019s success has been built on a demanding selection policy, with only \u201ccommitted players\u201d featuring in the side.<\/p>\n
The lack of preseason football and competitive minutes means Barcola is behind schedule. French soccer expert Julien Laurens summed it up on Sky Sports News: \u201cFitness wise he\u2019s not ready to even play I think a few minutes in the Premier League,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo they will need to work on his fitness before he\u2019s able to play first-team football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barcola has given a more optimistic assessment. Speaking to LFCTV, he said he could be involved \u201cas soon as possible.\u201d He added: \u201cI worked hard during the holidays,\u201d Barcola said. \u201cI did everything I could to stay fit as much as possible, so I feel ready already. I think the coach or the medical team will take time, but honestly I think I\u2019m ready to help the team as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is some context for Liverpool to consider. Alexander Isak needed time after his club-record switch from Newcastle United last September, though that case was shaped by different circumstances. Isak had not trained properly in preseason and was effectively on strike while trying to force a move. Barcola, by contrast, has continued training normally while waiting for the transfer to be resolved.<\/p>\n
Liverpool do at least have a busy schedule that could offer openings. They have five matches across three competitions in the next 18 days, beginning with Friday\u2019s trip to Ipswich Town. The Champions League starts the following Wednesday, before two more Premier League fixtures and a Carabao Cup tie arrive in quick succession.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Barcola\u2019s Liverpool start may be delayed, with fitness concerns following a disrupted summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1067,1647,1742,175,1031,172],"tags":[1047,180,182],"class_list":["post-18987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carabao-cup","category-champions-league","category-ipswich-town","category-liverpool","category-paris-saint-germain","category-epl","tag-champions-league","tag-player-news","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18987","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=18987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}