The 22-year-old played a key role in the Parisians' treble triumph, but he'd get to start in his preferred position at the Allianz Arena
Bayern Munich made a formal approach for Liverpool winger Luis Duiz earlier this week. It was immediately rejected by the Reds, who informed the Bavarians' director of sport, Max Eberl, that they had absolutely no intention of selling the Colombia international.
Bayern have, thus, been left in something of a bind. They made signing a world-class left winger their primary objective during this summer's transfer window, but Diaz seems unwilling to upset Liverpool by pushing for a move, while Nico Williams is clearly far more interested in linking up with Spain team-mate Lamine Yamal at Barcelona – so long as the Catalans can resolve their ongoing registration issues.
However, Bayern are also keen on Bradley Barcola. Paris Saint-Germain continue to insist that the France international is not for sale, while the word coming out of the player's camp is that he is happy at Parc des Princes. For how much longer, though? Because Barcola is starting to look like the odd man out within PSG's formidable forward line…
Rare 90 minutes
Barcola was quick to express his satisfaction after making his 100th appearance for PSG in Sunday's Club World Cup rout of Inter Miami. However, of far greater significance was the fact that he played all 90 minutes of the game in Atlanta. As Barcola rather pointedly stated, it had been "a long time" since he'd done so. Five weeks, to be precise.
What's more, the weekend after registering two goals and an assist in PSG's 3-0 Coupe de France final win over Reims on May 24, Barcola was benched for the Champions League showdown with Inter in Munich – which would have been unthinkable during the first half of the season.
Indeed, it was Barcola who initially picked up most of the goal-scoring slack after Kylian Mbappe's move to Real Madrid last summer. Going into the 2024-25 campaign, there was still considerable doubt over the former Lyon starlet's finishing, particularly as he'd netted just five times in 39 appearances during his first year in Paris. However, he'd matched that tally by the third round of Ligue 1 and was into double figures for the first time in his career by the middle of November.
AdvertisementAFPFollowing Luis Enrique's advice
Despite Barcola's sudden increase in productivity, not to mention his tender age, his perceived inconsistency was a constant topic of discussion in the Parisian press, much to the annoyance of Luis Enrique, who lambasted journalists for portraying the 22-year-old as a god one day and a devil the next.
"The media wants things to be black or white: either you're at the top or it's a disaster!" the Spaniard fumed. "But life has shades of grey."
Luis Enrique remained consistent in his defence of Barcola's fluctuating form during a far more difficult second half of the season. There may have been rumours of tension between the pair in the run-up to Christmas, with some reports claiming that Barcola wasn't entirely happy with his role from a tactical perspective, but they never made much sense from the outside looking in.
For starters, Barcola credited Luis Enrique with making him a more complete attacker by always encouraging him to express himself, while at the same time making him more aware of his defensive responsibilities.
"When the coach would call me on certain things at the end of games, I’d say to myself, 'He’s exaggerating, I defended there, it’s not possible,'" Barcola told . "But seeing it on video made me realise that he was totally right, so I've kind of added that to my game."
Getty ImagesSlipping down the pecking order
In truth, Barcola's only real issue was the January arrival of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, as it meant PSG suddenly had four wingers competing for two wide berths. Of course, Luis Enrique had already come up with the ingenious idea of deploying Ousmane Dembele as a central attacker in his fluid front three – and to stunning effect. However, that still left Barcola essentially fighting with Desire Doue for the right-wing slot, as new signing Kvaratskhelia was always going to be allowed to start in his preferred position on the left flank.
Barcola initially had the upper hand in that particular scrap, but Doue exploded in the second half of the season, culminating in him playing a starring role in the spectacular 5-0 rout of Inter in Munich, while Barcola was restricted to a 24-minute cameo.
Getty Images'One of the best dribblers in Europe'
Tellingly, Luis Enrique has remained steadfast in his defence of Barcola – which is wholly unsurprising, given he clearly wants to keep his fantastic four intact for next season.
"We are talking about one of the best dribblers in Europe," the former Barcelona boss said in May. "He is a player who changes games of the highest quality. He has been crucial, is crucial and will continue to be so. But a PSG player has to get used to starting, coming on as a substitute or even not being selected at all. External noises are fine but we focus on ensuring that each player is at 100 percent when they step onto the pitch.
"And it's not as if Bradley is performing worse now than he did at the start of the season, or that Desire is better. No, it's a normal evolution with ups and downs. What I want is for them to be ready to help the team whenever they have the opportunity, whether as starters or as reserves. They are very young. They have to go through this to grow."
The question now being asked, though, is whether Barcola's development might be hindered by being regularly rotated in Paris, given he would be a certain starter in Munich.
