Arsenal Target Bradley Barcola in Transfer Battle with Liverpool

Arsenal have already made one statement this summer. They might be about to make another that rattles Liverpool to the core.

Fresh from unveiling £75 million signing Bruno Guimaraes at the Emirates on Sunday, the Premier League champions are being strongly tipped to muscle in on Liverpool’s pursuit of PSG winger Bradley Barcola – with a former Gunners favourite claiming he has inside information that could tilt the race.

Guimaraes is the third piece of Mikel Arteta’s early business, following the arrivals of highly rated winger Christos Tzolis and goalkeeper Illan Meslier. It’s a window that was supposed to be crowned by the arrival of Vinicius Junior, only for the Brazilian to commit his future to Real Madrid with a new six-year deal at the Santiago Bernabeu.

That setback has not dulled Arsenal’s ambition. If anything, it has sharpened it.

They remain in the market for another high-end attacking talent, with Marcus Rashford and Juventus’ Kenan Yildiz both on the radar. Now Barcola, heavily linked with Liverpool for weeks, has moved sharply into focus.

Liverpool’s Salah heir – or Arsenal’s next statement?

Liverpool have earmarked the 23-year-old France winger as their preferred successor to Mohamed Salah. The Merseyside club are understood to be ready to go to £100 million (€117m / $135m) to get him out of Paris, while PSG are holding out for closer to £128m (€150m / $172m).

Barcola, a two-time Champions League winner with PSG, has stalled on a new deal and is expected to leave the French champions. On paper, Liverpool are still the frontrunners.

But the equation changes if the player’s heart is set elsewhere.

That is exactly what former Arsenal striker Perry Groves hinted at when speaking on talkSPORT, revealing that a trusted contact has told him Barcola would prefer a move to London – a detail that could hand Arsenal a huge advantage if they decide to act.

Asked which club would suit Barcola better, Arsenal or Liverpool, Groves didn’t hesitate.

“I’ve got no dog in the fight, but I would say the Gooners because Liverpool are a team that are in transition,” he said, pointing to the arrival of Andoni Iraola and a squad being reshaped in the post-Jurgen Klopp era. New manager, new ideas, new signings. Plenty of moving parts.

By contrast, Arsenal look settled, ruthless, and ready to stretch their dominance.

“If you were Barcola and you thought, what out of those two sides have got the most chance of winning the Premier League or Champions League, at the moment you’d say it was Arsenal,” Groves argued.

That is the sales pitch. The question is whether Arsenal are prepared to pay the price.

Arsenal’s new transfer posture

Groves suggested that if Arsenal truly want Barcola, the groundwork will already have started.

“So it’s whether Arsenal want to go in, if they go in for him, then there would have been advances being made to his people,” he said.

This is not the Arsenal of old, nervously circling the market’s biggest names and then stepping aside. Groves made that point bluntly, referencing the Vinicius Junior saga.

“They don’t want to be seen losing out on Vinicius Junior, being played like a little kitten with a ball of wool, but Arsenal have to be in for those sorts of players. That’s the level Arsenal are at now.”

Then came the line that will make Liverpool supporters wince.

“I’ve got a source that says he [Barcola] wants to live in London,” Groves revealed. “I can’t tell you (who), I can’t divulge my sources. I’ve got a source. I’ve got a mole. Barcola wants to live in London.”

If that preference holds, Liverpool’s financial muscle and clear pathway on the right flank suddenly have a serious rival: the pull of a title-winning project in the capital.

Frimpong urges Arsenal to go again

Inside the club’s old guard, there is little appetite for Arsenal to rest on their laurels after reclaiming the Premier League crown. Emmanuel Frimpong, another former Gunner, has been vocal about the need to turn one title into an era.

“Mikel [Arteta] and the boys have finally got it over the line, which I’m very happy about,” he told Ladbrokes. “But they shouldn’t just win it once and be satisfied with that.

“They have to keep on winning it now and dominate just like how Man United and Man City have in the past.”

For Frimpong, the squad is strong, but not complete. He wants more firepower out wide and a specialist in midfield to unlock Declan Rice.

“We’ve got the players, we’ve got a deep squad and hopefully this summer, the board are going to strengthen further, because I still think we need a couple of wingers and a proper number eight.

“I feel like Declan Rice is playing in a position which isn’t natural to him, so we need a proper number eight alongside him.”

Before Guimaraes’ arrival was confirmed, Frimpong had already flagged the Brazilian as an ideal signing. He also name-checked Barcola as the kind of winger who could elevate Arsenal’s attack.

“For me, when it comes to realistic signings this summer, with those positions in mind, I feel like Bruno Guimaraes is someone I’d love to see at Arsenal. And also Bradley Barcola… I think he would be very good for Arsenal. Barcola and Bruno Guimaraes would be a very good transfer window for Arsenal.”

Half of that wish list is already through the door.

The other half now sits at the centre of a looming tug of war between the champions of England and a Liverpool side trying to redraw their future without Salah. If Barcola truly wants London, the next move belongs to Arsenal.