Liverpool\u2019s summer wide-man debate is already looking awkward. The club came close to matching their transfer record for Bradley Barcola, yet the early returns suggest Anthony Gordon may have been the more convincing option.<\/p>\n
Barcola is beginning to resemble another expensive attacking question mark. With Mohamed Salah not even drawing the main spotlight, the winger has yet to register a goal or assist this season, and his output has been well below expectations. That stands in sharp contrast to Gordon, who has settled quickly after his move to Barcelona.<\/p>\n
The numbers are hard to ignore. Gordon has produced six goal contributions in nine appearances for a new club in a new league, a strong return given the circumstances. He also added four goal contributions in three England appearances during the international window, while Barcola finished with none for France.<\/p>\n
Andoni Iraola, though, is refusing to lose faith. \u201cSometimes we have to focus not just on the numbers,\u201d the Liverpool manager said on Tuesday. He added that he has \u201c100% trust\u201d in both Barcola and Wirtz. \u201cBradley and Florian have had good games, bad games this season, but we know their level, and we are sure they\u2019ll give us good performances.\u201d<\/p>\n
The comparison is strengthened by the broader statistical split. Barcola has made 10 appearances, played 511 minutes, and still has no goals or assists. Gordon, across 13 appearances and 775 minutes, has five goals and five assists, alongside stronger underlying figures in expected goals, expected assists, big chances created, successful dribbles and touches in the opposition box.<\/p>\n
There was logic to Liverpool\u2019s interest in Gordon. Born and raised in the city, he came from a Liverpool-supporting family and had spent five years there as a young child before his professional breakthrough at Everton. Liverpool needed help in replacing Salah, while Gordon was looking for a step up from Newcastle United.<\/p>\n
Barcelona moved first, announcing his signing on May 29. The British club also tried to intervene, but, as reported, they were \u201clate to the party\u201d. With add-ons, Gordon\u2019s move could rise above $93 million, while Barcola\u2019s could reach $163 million.<\/p>\n
For now, the better deal is clear. Barcola may still find the Champions League more forgiving than domestic football, starting with LASK and then Villarreal at Anfield.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liverpool\u2019s winger debate is already under scrutiny as Barcola struggles and Gordon delivers quickly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21759,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230,175],"tags":[1162,1047,182],"class_list":["post-21760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analytics-stats","category-liverpool","tag-analytics","tag-champions-league","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21760","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=21760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}