Liverpool's Transfer Dilemma: Barcola Chase and Gakpo's Future
August has rolled around and Liverpool are back in a familiar place: under pressure, short on time, and with a squad that still looks one or two moves away from feeling complete.
This was meant to be different. Back in June, the message from around the club was clear enough – a big summer, an aggressive window, a squad built to give Andoni Iraola the tools to launch a new era at Anfield.
It hasn’t played out that way.
A big plan, a flat window
Yan Diomande was supposed to be the statement signing. The man to step into the space Mohamed Salah is leaving behind, the attacking pillar around which Liverpool could reshape their front line. Another top-level winger was expected to follow.
Neither has arrived.
Liverpool missed out on Diomande. Ronald Araujo and Victor Munoz have come in to add depth and a touch of quality, but the glaring weak spots in the squad remain. Supporters can still see them. So can everyone else.
And then there’s the other side of the market – the exits that never came.
Deadwood, blocked spots and a ticking clock
Non-homegrown slots are full. Deadwood is clogging up the system. Wataru Endo, Calvin Ramsay and Federico Chiesa are among the players whose futures are under the microscope because someone has to move before someone else can come in.
That reality has turned the window into a waiting game. Liverpool are talking to PSG about a potential double deal for Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye, but everything hinges on outgoings and timing. The club want both. Whether they can actually pull both off before the deadline is another question.
There is still time. The clock is loud.
Gakpo at the crossroads
Amid all this, the noise around Cody Gakpo is growing harder to ignore.
Gakpo is a Premier League winner. He has contributed, he has been part of Liverpool’s recent success, but the sense around the club is that a serious offer this summer would be listened to.
On the surface, it feels counterintuitive. Liverpool already look light in attack. Why even consider losing another senior forward?
Because it ties directly into the Barcola and Mbaye push.
If Liverpool land both, Iraola suddenly has a far more varied and deeper forward line. More pace, more profiles, more ways to shape his front three. In that scenario, Gakpo becomes a sale the club can absorb, both tactically and financially.
And there is a market for him.
Tottenham are keen on the Netherlands international and, if the right proposal lands on Liverpool’s desk, a move to north London before the window closes would not shock anyone.
But there is a hard line here. Letting Gakpo go without bringing in proper replacements would make little sense given how the squad currently looks. Any exit of that scale depends on Liverpool being convinced they have enough quality coming through the door first.
Barcola deal gathers pace
That is why the Barcola situation matters so much.
According to Le Parisien, the winger’s future is accelerating quickly and a move in the coming days is on the table. At this stage, Liverpool are described as effectively his only serious suitor left.
If that holds, the path is clear. Get Barcola in, get Mbaye in, and the whole attacking picture changes. Suddenly, Liverpool could justify cashing in on Gakpo for a significant fee and using that money to reshape the front line in Iraola’s image.
It would be another major twist to a window that has so far underwhelmed. But this is how domino windows work: one big arrival, one big sale, a squad that looks very different in a week’s time.
Right now, all eyes are on Barcola. If he walks out at Anfield in the coming days, the slow, frustrating summer Liverpool have endured could flip in an instant – and force a decisive call on Gakpo before the window slams shut.
