Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann claims that Liverpool won’t be spending lavishly, which would rule out the idea of Bradley Barcola making a mega-money move to Anfield this summer.
Liverpool have reportedly been ordered by PSG to pay £145m to sign Barcola, and while they are refusing to pay that, they will still have to pay over £100m to get the Parisians to release him
Hamann told Tribal Football: “Well, I think it’s [the transfer market] been overinflated for a few years now. You know, if you look at Elliot Anderson, he’s a very capable player, but what are we looking at, £125 million [$169 million]?
“If you look at the money paid to Newcastle for Guimaraes and Tonali, who are very good players, don’t get me wrong, you know, we’re looking at just under £100 million [$135 million] for one and just over £100 million [$135 million] for the other.
“You know, it’s supply and demand, and they spent an awful lot of money. We shouldn’t forget Liverpool. They spent nearly half a billion quid last summer, with Frimpong, Kerkez, Isak, Ekitike and obviously Wirtz coming to the club.
“So maybe they feel the pinch a little bit from the money they spent last season, but, as I said, they’re probably a bit more cautious this time around.
“I don’t think we’ll see the £100 million [$135 million] transfer fees being paid by Liverpool because they did that last season, but I’m pretty sure we’ll see a few more incomings for, shall we say, a reasonable price.”
Liverpool will have to spend more than £100m if they really want to sign Bradley Barcola
[smartframe_images_embed customer-id=”6dfbdbe8ed6ff2eb8f8e8ee3c2cef8f4″ image-id=”wennFqeoboWw” style=”width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 6192px; aspect-ratio: 6192/4128;”]
While I agree with Hamann that Liverpool are being more conservative this summer after the £460m outlay last year, as evidenced by the decision to sign Ronald Araujo on loan, they will have to spend over £100m if they are serious about bringing Barcola to Anfield.
There is reportedly a risk that Arsenal could make a late swoop to hijack a move to sign the Frenchman, but this report has yet to be carried by the usual top journalists, so it can be ignored for now.
One thing remains obvious: Barcola will not join Liverpool unless they spend over £100m to sign him, although the Reds are refusing to pay the £145m asking price PSG are said to be demanding.
