Liverpool face a headache for their first game after the international break against Manchester City on October 11. The extended break has given the Reds time to assess a steady but unremarkable unbeaten start to the season following a significant squad reconstruction in the summer transfer window.
One of the targeted positions was the forward line, where Andoni Iraola's marquee acquisition was Bradley Barcola, who arrived from Paris Saint-Germain for £123 million. The French winger has endured a sluggish start, featuring five times without a goal contribution.
Thierry Henry's Bradley Barcola warning
Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry has cautioned that Barcola will require time to adapt at Anfield after his high-profile switch from Paris. With Iraola potentially without Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo against Manchester City, the Spaniard can ill afford a wasteful performance from Barcola in the final third.
"People forget that the tactic, the team and how you play matters," Henry told Betway. "It's not always easy when you're used to a certain system and a way of playing, where everybody knows what's happening at any time.
"He just arrived in Liverpool, he doesn't speak English, and it's a different style of play with different intensity in the league. I had to deal with it the same way, and then that little switch happened and I was more comfortable.
"You start to speak English, you can joke around in the dressing room, you're a bit less shy and people start to know what you're about.
"It's not an easy place to start, and he didn't ask for his price tag, but it's on his back. We all know that one-vs-one, he is deadly, and he has pace. The only thing he needs to work on is his finishing, but that's normal.
"If you see my finishing when I was 19 or 20 compared to the end of my career, it was so different. I became so much more sure about my game."
Henry added: "With winning the Champions League back-to-back, playing for France, with the price tag and the quality that he has, people are not going to wait for him to become the finished article, so he's going to have to deliver. There is going to be a level of expectation, and sometimes he is a bit raw in his finishing, but he creates a hell of a lot."
Liverpool face £52m setback
Spanish giants Real Madrid have reportedly set their sights on former Liverpool centre-back Jarell Quansah, according to SPORT BILD. The England international made the switch to the Bundesliga for £30m during the summer of 2025.
The Warrington-born centre-half attracted interest from Arsenal during the summer transfer window, with the Gunners tabling a £55million offer for the defender, whose contract with Leverkusen runs until 2030. Arsenal ultimately switched their attention to Aston Villa's Ezri Konsa.
According to BILD, Real are in the market for at least two new defenders next summer and are therefore monitoring the former Liverpool man closely. Were he to relocate to the Spanish capital, he would become the third ex-Liverpool defender to join Los Blancos in recent times, following Ibrahima Konate and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The reason it is a setback is that Quansah is seen as an easy long-term replacement for Virgil van Dijk on Merseyside. When finalising the initial transfer, the Anfield hierarchy included a £70million buy-back option in the homegrown centre-half's contract.
Under the agreed terms, Liverpool would need to pay just £52million to re-acquire the player this coming summer, though they must activate their option prior to June 15, 2027. Signing another centre-half of Quansah's quality could cost significantly more than that.
