Arsenal Eyes Bradley Barcola Amid Liverpool's £100m Chase
The champions have already landed a statement signing this summer. They may not be finished yet.
Arsenal, fresh from parading £75m man Bruno Guimaraes in front of a jubilant Emirates crowd on Sunday, are being strongly backed to muscle in on Liverpool’s move for PSG winger Bradley Barcola – with a former Gunners favourite claiming inside knowledge that could tilt a £100m-plus saga towards north London.
Arsenal move from celebration to escalation
Mikel Arteta’s summer business has gathered pace with a clear theme: add quality, add depth, add winners.
Guimaraes, prised from Newcastle in a deal that underlines Arsenal’s pulling power, became the club’s third arrival of the window after the captures of highly rated Greek winger Christos Tzolis and French goalkeeper Illan Meslier. The Premier League title holders are not rebuilding; they are reinforcing a winning machine.
They did swing and miss on one galáctico. Arsenal pushed for a sensational move for Vinicius Junior, only to watch the Brazilian commit to a new six-year deal at Real Madrid and extend his stay at the Santiago Bernabeu. That near-miss has not dulled their ambition.
The search for another frontline creator continues. Marcus Rashford’s name refuses to leave the gossip columns, while Juventus talent Kenan Yildiz also sits on the radar. Now, a different wide forward – one Liverpool have made their priority – is being dragged into Arsenal’s orbit.
Barcola tug-of-war: Liverpool’s plan, Arsenal’s opening
Bradley Barcola has been earmarked by Liverpool as the man to follow Mohamed Salah at Anfield. At 23, already a France international and twice a Champions League winner with PSG, he fits the profile of a long-term attacking pillar.
Liverpool are understood to be ready to go to around £100m (€117m / $135m) for the winger. PSG, though, are holding firm for a fee closer to £128m (€150m / $172m). Barcola has stalled on signing a new contract and is widely expected to leave the French champions this summer.
On paper, Liverpool are in pole position. In practice, the picture might be more complicated.
Former Arsenal striker Perry Groves believes the Gunners can crash the party – and says he has been told Barcola’s preference could hand Arsenal a decisive edge.
Asked on talkSPORT whether Barcola would be better suited to Arsenal or Liverpool, Groves did not hesitate.
“I’ve got no dog in the fight, but I would say the Gooners because Liverpool are a team that are in transition,” he said, pointing to Andoni Iraola’s arrival on Merseyside and the shift in philosophy that will follow. New manager, new ideas, new signings. Uncertainty.
From Groves’ perspective, the contrast with Arsenal is stark.
“If you were Barcola and you thought, what out of those two sides have got the most chance of winning the Premier League or Champions League, at the moment you’d say it was Arsenal,” he argued.
That is the sales pitch: a settled champion side, a defined style, a manager at the peak of his influence, and a squad that has already proven it can go the distance in England.
The London factor
Groves then dropped the line that will make Arsenal supporters sit up.
“I’ve got a source that says he [Barcola] wants to live in London,” he revealed. “I can’t tell you (who), I can’t divulge my sources. I’ve got a source. I’ve got a mole. Barcola wants to live in London.”
If that information holds, it changes the temperature of the race. Arsenal would not just be competing on wages, trophies and project, but with the gravitational pull of the capital itself.
For a club still smarting from missing out on Vinicius Junior, Groves suggested Arsenal cannot afford to sit out this calibre of chase.
“So it’s whether Arsenal want to go in, if they go in for him, then there would have been advances being made to his people,” he said. “Because they don’t want to be seen losing out on Vinicius Junior being played like a little kitten with a ball of wool, but Arsenal have to be in for those sorts of players. That’s the level Arsenal are at now.”
The message is clear: champions should act like champions in the market.
Frimpong calls for Barcola – and more
Groves is not the only ex-Gunner pushing for a move.
Emmanuel Frimpong, speaking after Guimaraes’ arrival, urged Arsenal to double down and build a squad capable not just of defending the title, but of starting a dynasty.
“Mikel [Arteta] and the boys have finally got it over the line, which I’m very happy about,” he told Ladbrokes. “But they shouldn’t just win it once and be satisfied with that.
“They have to keep on winning it now and dominate just like how Man United and Man City have in the past.”
Frimpong sees the core in place. He also sees gaps.
“We’ve got the players, we’ve got a deep squad and hopefully this summer, the board are going to strengthen further, because I still think we need a couple of wingers and a proper number eight,” he said.
Declan Rice, in his view, is being asked to do a job that does not quite match his natural game.
“I feel like Declan Rice is playing in a position which isn’t natural to him, so we need a proper number eight alongside him.”
Frimpong had long championed Guimaraes as that solution – “someone I’d love to see at Arsenal,” as he put it – and he placed Barcola in the same bracket of realistic, high-impact targets.
“And also Bradley Barcola… I think he would be very good for Arsenal. Barcola and Bruno Guimaraes would be a very good transfer window for Arsenal.”
One of those boxes is already ticked. The other hangs in the balance.
A champion’s decision
For now, Liverpool remain the club most heavily linked with Barcola, and PSG’s price demands will test the resolve of any suitor. Arsenal’s hierarchy must decide whether to turn strong admiration into a concrete bid that could push the deal into a full-scale tug-of-war.
They have the platform. They have the title. They have the London factor.
If the “mole” is right and Barcola truly wants the capital, the next move belongs to the champions.
