Forget Barcola, Zabarnyi Might Be The Smarter Paris Raid

Everyone wants to talk about Bradley Barcola. We understand why, wingers move the needle, and PSG have plenty of attacking talent that gets Anfield daydreaming. But if we’re being honest about where this squad actually needs reinforcement, the more interesting Paris conversation isn’t happening in attack at all. It’s happening at centre-back, and the name worth watching is Illia Zabarnyi.

It says something about the state of this summer’s rumour mill that a genuinely sensible defensive option has been sitting quietly behind a flashier winger story. We’d rather talk about the boring, sturdy addition that actually solves a problem than the exciting one that simply duplicates strength we already have. Zabarnyi is that kind of signing, unglamorous on the surface but potentially decisive underneath.

A Different Kind Of PSG Target

Zabarnyi isn’t a headline name in the way Barcola is, and that’s rather the point. He’s 23, physically imposing, and already comfortable with the pace and physicality of the Premier League thanks to his time at Bournemouth. That matters more than people realise. A defender who needs a year to adjust to English football is a luxury we can’t really afford right now, whereas Zabarnyi could walk straight into contention.

Beyond the physical profile, there’s a footballing case too. He’s comfortable stepping into midfield with the ball, reads danger early, and doesn’t panic under pressure, all traits that matter enormously in a system that likes to build from the back and press aggressively higher up the pitch. A defender who can’t be trusted on the ball tends to get exposed quickly in that kind of setup, and by most accounts Zabarnyi doesn’t have that problem.

There’s no suggestion, as far as we can tell, that anything is imminent here. This is a name being floated rather than a deal being finalised. But the profile fits, and in our experience this club tends to move fastest when the background work has already been done quietly, long before anything becomes public.

Why Hughes And Iraola Already Know Him

This is where the Zabarnyi links start to feel less speculative and more logical. Richard Hughes worked with him at Bournemouth and knows exactly what he offers, on and off the pitch. Andoni Iraola coached him there too. When two of the most influential voices in our recruitment structure already have first hand knowledge of a player’s character and quality, that tends to accelerate things rather than complicate them.

David Lynch, speaking on Redmen TV, made a similar point when discussing where this move could go, suggesting Hughes’ familiarity with Zabarnyi from his Bournemouth days gives the club a genuine head start on due diligence that rival suitors simply won’t have.

We’d add that familiarity cuts both ways. Liverpool don’t typically commit to expensive defensive signings on reputation alone, they tend to want conviction from the football department as well as the coaching staff, and here that alignment already appears to exist.

Why Our Defence Actually Needs Him

Look past the depth chart and the picture gets less comfortable. Virgil van Dijk remains excellent, but he’s 35 now and can’t be asked to carry the position alone for another full campaign. Giovanni Leoni is still working his way back from a serious ACL injury. Jeremy Jacquet has real promise but hasn’t proven himself at this level yet. Joe Gomez, for all his quality when fit, has never been a guarantee of availability across a season.

Add all of that up and four names on paper starts to look considerably thinner in practice. Zabarnyi wouldn’t be a development project either, he’d arrive the finished article in terms of physical readiness, which is precisely what this specific situation calls for.

There’s also a title race dimension to this that gets overlooked when the conversation stays fixated on attacking reinforcements. Squads don’t lose league campaigns purely because their best eleven isn’t good enough, they lose them because injuries or suspensions to key defenders expose a shallow bench at the worst possible moment. Adding a proven, ready made centre-back now is squad insurance as much as it is a statement signing, and that distinction matters when you’re trying to compete on multiple fronts across a long season.

What This Says About Our Transfer Strategy

There’s a useful precedent here too. Liverpool didn’t panic buy Ryan Gravenberch, they waited, watched Bayern’s valuation soften, and struck when the price made sense rather than when the noise around a deal was loudest. If PSG ever reach the same conclusion about Zabarnyi, that he isn’t quite central to their long term plans, we’d expect this club to be similarly well positioned to pounce. That’s not a coincidence, it’s a pattern, and it’s one we’ve come to trust from this recruitment department.

The Numbers And Our Verdict

Reports have put the asking price somewhere between forty and forty five million euros, which works out to roughly thirty four to thirty eight million pounds. For a 23 year old with genuine European pedigree and a season of Premier League football already banked, that strikes us as fair value rather than an overpay, provided PSG’s stance softens as the summer goes on.

Nothing about this points to an imminent transfer. PSG will dictate the pace, and we shouldn’t expect Liverpool to force anything while the Ligue 1 side still see a role for him in Paris. But these quieter stories have a habit of becoming the significant ones by deadline day, and patience has generally served this recruitment team well.

Our view is simple. Supporters will always get more excited about a forward joining than a centre-back, but protecting the spine of the team matters just as much as reinforcing the final third. If PSG’s plans shift and Liverpool decide another central defender is needed before the season starts in earnest, Zabarnyi looks exactly like the sort of low drama, high value addition this squad could use.

We’ll keep watching this one closely, not because it’s the loudest story of the window, but because it’s the one that could quietly determine how comfortable this team looks under pressure come February and March, long after the Barcola headlines have faded from memory.