Liverpool's Transfer Priorities: Replace Salah Before Signing Barcola

Jamie Carragher has urged Liverpool to get their priorities straight in the transfer market: replace Mohamed Salah first, then think about Bradley Barcola.

The former Liverpool defender, speaking to Sky Sports, made it clear he admires the Paris Saint-Germain winger. He called Barcola “a wonderful player” and admitted he would “love to see” the France international at Anfield. But admiration is one thing. Squad building is another.

For Carragher, the issue is simple. Barcola plays off the left. Salah defined Liverpool’s right flank for nine years.

Left side crowded, right side bare

Liverpool are already well stocked on that left-hand side. Cody Gakpo, highly rated teenager Rio Ngumoha and new signing Victor Muñoz all operate there, giving Arne Slot plenty of options in that channel.

“The main thing that stands out as an urgent need for Liverpool right now is replacing Salah, who was playing as a right winger,” Carragher said. “And I do not think Liverpool have any player in the squad who feels completely comfortable playing in the right wing position.”

He then drilled into the balance of the squad. By his count, Liverpool already have “at least four” players who can play on the left “quite comfortably” even before any potential Barcola arrival. The concern is obvious: money and attention going into an area of relative strength while the right wing, once Salah’s territory, remains unresolved.

Sources have told ESPN that Liverpool are preparing their first offer for Barcola, with PSG valuing the 21-year-old at around €150 million. That fee only sharpens Carragher’s questions about where Liverpool should be focusing their resources.

The Ngumoha question

There is also the matter of Rio Ngumoha. The 17-year-old scored in the recent friendly win over Wrexham and carries a growing sense of excitement around the club. Carragher is keen for that momentum not to be blocked.

“Rio is a young lad, and he is really excellent, and I think he will keep developing from what he showed last season,” he said. But he quickly turned back to the dilemma a Barcola deal would create.

“You are buying a very young player for a large sum of money in Barcola, and he is currently better than Rio Ngumoha,” Carragher admitted. That reality is exactly what worries him. The expectation is that “over the next year or two, Rio will want to play week in, week out with Liverpool, and it is up to him to prove that.”

Paying a huge fee for a player in Ngumoha’s preferred role complicates that pathway. “When you pay that kind of money for a young player in his position, it makes you a little uncertain,” Carragher said.

There has been talk of Ngumoha potentially switching to the right to find minutes. Carragher accepts that versatility can help a youngster.

“There is talk of Rio Ngumoha potentially playing on the right side and getting some minutes there, and as a young player it is a good thing to play on both sides,” he noted, before stressing, “but I think his current position is the left wing.”

Carragher’s ideal scenario

Carragher is not against signing Barcola. Far from it. He just wants the Salah problem solved first.

“If you asked me, do I want Barcola to arrive along with Liverpool signing a right winger too? I would be very happy because players would have to leave, and that is of course a natural thing,” he said.

His stance is clear: this summer should be “dedicated to replacing Salah,” and “Barcola does not make up for Mo’s departure.”

There is, though, a version of the window that Carragher believes would make perfect sense.

“If they go out and bring in a player for the right wing position, and sign Barcola, then sell two of the wide players currently in the team, then I think that would be a wonderful thing.”

Liverpool, then, stand at a familiar crossroads: chase a glittering talent from Paris, or first secure the heir to one of the greatest right wingers Anfield has ever seen.