Virgil van Dijk airs his feelings about Bradley Barcola amid imminent £123m transfer to Liverpool | OneFootball

Virgil van Dijk has said that Bradley Barcola would be ‘welcomed with open arms’ once he completes his impending transfer to Liverpool.

The French winger is set to undergo a medical today ahead of his £123m move to Anfield from Paris Saint-Germain (The Athletic), which’d make him the Reds’ second most expensive signing of all time and conclude a pursuit which has lasted for months.

The 23-year-old will come to Merseyside as a two-time Champions League winner with PSG and a scorer of three goals for semi-finalists France at this summer’s World Cup, and the fee being paid for him indicates just how much faith (and money) LFC are investing in him.

Van Dijk speaks out about imminent Barcola transfer

Speaking to reporters after Liverpool’s 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, Van Dijk was asked about Barcola’s impending transfer to the Reds, one that the current captain has endorsed.

The 35-year-old said (via The Express): “He’s a good player, that’s the only thing I can say. I don’t think there’s any doubt that a club like Liverpool is very attractive to very good players.

“This is one of the biggest clubs in the world. We all know that we’re going through a little bit of a transition. You either want to be a part of it or you don’t. The window is open until Tuesday, right? Let’s see what happens.

“He’s a player with pace. I remember a goal he scored against Chelsea. If he comes here then he will be welcomed with open arms, but until it’s official, there’s no point speaking about it.”

(Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

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Can Barcola live up to his price tag and the inevitable expectation?

Van Dijk is understandably trying to be diplomatic about not jumping the gun on the transfer until it becomes official, but he seems to have found it hard to hide his apparent delight that Barcola seems to be on his way to Liverpool.

While the Frenchman hasn’t been massively prolific for PSG (39 goals in 152 appearances), Anfield chiefs evidently view him as capable of becoming the elite winger to succeed Mo Salah in the long-term for the Reds.

The 23-year-old shouldn’t be burdened with the pressure of trying to live up to the Egyptian’s generational standards, but the fee that he’s set to command will inevitably bring with it an expectation to make an immediate impact – ‘settling in’ time will be in scarce supply from sceptics who’d be waiting for any opportunity to jab the knife.

Although Van Dijk has voiced his excitement about Barcola coming in at Liverpool, he’s also been quite vocal about his disapproval of plans to sell Cody Gakpo to Manchester City, a prospective transfer which’d offset so much of the goodwill that the France winger’s arrival would ordinarily generate among the fan base.

We still need to wait for the PSG forward to complete his medical and all the final bits of paperwork before we can properly toast his move to Anfield, but it’s apparent from the captain’s remarks how popular an addition he’d be to the dressing room.

Let’s hope that, in time, his name is spoken by Reds supporters in tones as reverential as those with which the legendary Salah is recalled.