PSG Tolak Lepas Bradley Barcola ke Liverpool dan Arsenal

Paris Saint-Germain dilaporkan telah menegaskan sikap mereka kepada Liverpool dan Arsenal bahwa penyerang sayap Bradley Barcola tidak akan dijual pada bursa transfer musim panas ini.

Dilansir dari Liverpool Echo, kabar penolakan dari klub raksasa Prancis tersebut muncul setelah adanya ketertarikan kuat dari dua klub besar Liga Inggris yang tengah berburu penyerang baru.

Menurut laporan TEAMtalk, perwakilan Bradley Barcola sebenarnya sempat menjajaki peluang pindah setelah sang pemain merasa menit bermainnya berkurang di bawah asuhan Luis Enrique.

Sebelumnya, klub-klub peminat juga sempat dikabarkan harus menyiapkan dana sebesar 128 juta poundsterling atau sekitar 150 juta euro untuk menebus pemain berusia 23 tahun tersebut dari Parc des Princes.

Mantan penyerang Premier League, Emile Heskey, menilai bahwa langkah mendatangkan Barcola akan menjadi keuntungan besar bagi lini serang The Reds.

"Signing Bradley Barcola would be an amazing coup for Liverpool because he provides the pace and directness we've been missing on the left wing. We've been spoiled with Sadio Mané and Luis Díaz, and now we need Barcola to get the fans off their seats again. Liverpool looked to have missed out on Yan Diomande to PSG, but that could open the door to Barcola leaving. It would be a statement signing for Andoni Iraola that's for sure." kata Emile Heskey, Mantan Pemain Premier League.

Sementara itu, Louis Saha memberikan dukungan senada mengenai kualitas yang dimiliki oleh penyerang muda tim nasional Prancis tersebut.

"Bradley Barcola is a terrific player. He has already won two Champions Leagues, and he could even win the World Cup over the next few weeks, his achievements for such a young player are staggering. He has become a much-improved player over the past few seasons, he gets better and better every year, and he can go right to the very top of football.

What Barcola needs is to move somewhere where he is going to be first choice in his position week in, week out. His confidence will improve ten-fold once that happens, and then he will be a way more dangerous player. He has enormous potential, and I'm not surprised Liverpool are looking at him.

They need a replacement for Mohamed Salah, and Cody Gakpo has looked uncomfortable at times for them out wide. Barcola could easily fill either of those positions." ujar Louis Saha, Mantan Pemain Premier League.

Di sisi lain, Danny Murphy justru merasa ragu dengan kecocokan Barcola dengan kebutuhan taktis Liverpool saat ini.

"The only thing with Barcola, of course, is he’s more comfortable on the left than the right. He can play on the right on occasion, but really I think someone more used to and suited playing on the right would probably be a better option. It’s certainly interesting and fascinating to see what they’re going to do because the squad needs a bit of reshaping. There are all these questions around Liverpool at the moment, which is, when you think about winning the league and then what we spent, it’s an incredible conundrum that they’re in really and shouldn’t be in." kata Danny Murphy, Mantan Pemain Premier League.

Selain Barcola, Liverpool dikabarkan juga terus memantau penyerang sayap Real Oviedo, Haissem Hassan, sebagai alternatif penguat lini serang mereka.