According to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, Liverpool are interested in signing a young French player whose style of play is similar to that of Jurgen Klopp former signing at Borussia Dortmund, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Reds are still anticipated to be quite active in the summer even if it was reported this week that they had given up on Jude Bellingham due to the likely expense of the transfer.
In particular, Moises Caicedo, Mason Mount, and Conor Gallagher have all been touted as potential midfielders that Liverpool will be looking to sign in the off-season. However, Liverpool will certainly look to add players to all departments alongside an ailing midfield. And according to Romano, they are also interested in winger Bradley Barcola of Lyon.
Liverpool among ‘many European clubs’ tracking Barcola
While Liverpool’s midfield requires an open-heart surgery, it is not the only department on the pitch which has hampered their season. The Reds’ defense has leaked too many goals than anticipated, whereas the end has failed to score as frequently as they did is past few seasons under Klopp.
Although they added two quality attackers across the summer and winter market in Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo respectively, the two are enduring a slow adaptation in England. As a result, Liverpool are expected to bring in more firepower in the summer, with Romano claiming Lyon’s winger Barcola being tracked by the Reds. The transfer expert tweeted:
“Many European clubs are tracking OL talented winger Bradley Barcola, born in 2002. Understand Liverpool are among [the] teams monitoring his development with their scouts but the race is open. Barcola has 7 goals and 4 assists with OL first team this season.”
Barcola has caught the eye of a host of clubs after his breakout season in France. The 20-year-old has shown promising talent, with 11 goal contributions in 25 games from the left-wing. While there’s not shortage of wingers on the left flank for Liverpool, where Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota are already competing for a spot, Klopp won’t mind more competition.
Moreover, not so much after getting to know that Barcola idolises his former Dortmund signing Aubameyang. In a previous interview, the Lyon wonderkid had revealed that Chelsea striker Aubameyang is the blueprint for his style of play. The Lyon winger stated in 2018 to the French publication Onze:
“My examples are Cristiano Ronaldo and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. I have almost the same game as him and above all the same style. I love watching Auba’s videos. Its burst of speed and quality of finish impress me.”
For Klopp, who oversaw the former Gabonese international at Borussia Dortmund for two seasons between 2013 and 2015, such news will be welcome. As he said in a press conference in 2018, the German was a huge fan of the striker. On Aubameyang Klopp stated through the Mirror:
“Yes, the biggest threat: speed and goal threat. It’s unbelievable.
“He’s one of the best players for the counter-attack that you can find on this planet because of the timing of the runs and the really outstanding finishing record in situations like that. When we scouted him at Saint-Etienne he played more from the wing and he played more for me at Dortmund on the wing as well because for us it was not clear how he could keep the ball up front with his back to the opponent, stuff like that.
“But then he ended up doing that really well as well. He can play both positions, from the wing or as a single striker or together with another striker. This makes him a very good player to be honest. He’s a really nice guy with different tastes gear-wise, stuff like that. It was always really a pleasure to work with him.”