Excl: “Could Have Been Completely Different!” – Journo On Liverpool-bound ‘Carefree’ Bradley Barcola | OneFootball

Liverpool appear to be closing in on the summer-long pursuit of PSG winger Bradley Barcola after reports of a 120m package being agreed in principle surfaced over the last 48 hours. 

Barcola’s rise from the Lyon academy to becoming one of Europe’s most exciting young forwards has been remarkably quick. But behind that rise is a period of development at Lyon, where a number of coaches played an important role in shaping the player he has become.

In this exclusive interview with Dan, Lyon-based journalist David Hernandez gives us a fascinating insight into the inbound Liverpool man’s development, discussing his personality, his mentality, his technical ability and the areas of his game that stood out from an early age…

Bradley Barcola almost done…Will Liverpool sign one more?

On the early days: “I watch the reserve team from time to time, so I’ve been watching him play for a few years now. But back then, he wasn’t really the player we expected to see in the first-team squad. He already had pace, but he was physically underdeveloped. He lacked the muscle to cope with the demands of professional football. At least, that’s what people were saying at the Academy, although there was hope that he could go further. In fact, before he established himself at OL in January 2023, he was due to go out on loan to Switzerland. In the end, the club chose to keep him after Karl Toko-Ekambi left the squad. His career path could have been completely different without that episode.”

On his early development: “He started out in a team that had ambitions but was clearly falling short of expectations. With his pace and carefree style, he immediately won over the fans and even his teammates. A genuine bond developed with Alexandre Lacazette, who was the captain and top scorer for OL at the time. He brought pace down the flanks and was never shy of putting in defensive work. But above all, he took advantage of a difficult situation at OL to seize his opportunity.”

On coaching influence: “The quality of the coaches at Lyon is well recognised, and he was fortunate enough to train under Cyrille Dolce – who notably coached Karim Benzema – and Amaury Barlet, one of the coaches of the ‘Barcola generation’ alongside Rayan Cherki, Malo Gusto and Castello Lukeba. Ultimately, he was fortunate not to be the ‘star’ of his generation and was therefore able to work behind the scenes, step by step, without being pushed into a higher age group or seen as the great hope. This makes his rise all the more spectacular, as no one could have predicted four years ago that he would move from OL to Liverpool with two Champions League titles.”

VERY INTERESTING MOVE! – PSG JOURNALIST ON BRADLEY BARCOLA TO LIVERPOOL

On the style of play: “He’s a forward who loves to exploit space. In fact, it was in quick transitions that he was most effective at OL, even though he didn’t play there for very long. His main strength is his pace, particularly with the ball at his feet. He’s the sort of player who gives the impression of being faster with the ball than without it.”

On his improvement: “It’s an area he’s been working on since he turned professional. He’s aware that he needs to be more of a goalscorer, and that’s the main criticism levelled at him, whether with PSG or the French national team. He doesn’t yet have that ‘killer’ mentality that some wingers in Europe possess. He’s still ‘too nice’, if you like, and I think that by coming to the Premier League, he can really develop this area for improvement. We saw this with Salah, who wasn’t necessarily a goalscorer before he arrived at Liverpool and who went on to develop that aspect of his game. In any case, he’ll have to score more; otherwise, the criticism will continue. But he’s still a young player, and people tend to forget that.”

On his idols: “Having interviewed him when he was starting at OL, he didn’t necessarily have any idols, but he watched Cristiano Ronaldo a lot, in particular.”