Barcola Deal Nearing But A Gakpo Exit Would Leave Liverpool Exposed

Liverpool’s summer business looks set to run right down to the wire. The club are reportedly closing in on Bradley Barcola, but that pursuit is now tangled up with real uncertainty over whether Cody Gakpo stays put, and the two situations together could shape how the whole window is remembered.

Manchester City’s interest in Gakpo has not cooled, and if it turns into an actual departure, Liverpool would suddenly be hunting for attacking cover with days rather than weeks to spare. That is not a position any club wants to find itself in this late in proceedings.

Romano flags a fast moving situation

Fabrizio Romano has been the one putting real weight behind the story, using his YouTube channel to tell Liverpool supporters to stay alert for a possible late twist. His central point was that any replacement business tied to a Gakpo sale could move quickly, with a resolution possible within hours rather than days once talks accelerate.

Sarr is the frontrunner, but Palace will not make it easy

Reports out of Romano’s update pointed to Ismaila Sarr as the leading option if Gakpo does move on, with Liverpool understood to have already had an opening approach turned down by Crystal Palace. Palace are rarely straightforward negotiators, and doing business with them in the closing days of a window, when time pressure hands them the leverage, is unlikely to come cheap.

There is also talk of a second, less obvious name being kept in reserve. That kind of parallel planning is common among clubs operating at this level in the final stretch, preserving flexibility in case the preferred route turns out to be too expensive or simply too slow to complete before the deadline closes.

None of this happens in a vacuum either. Liverpool have already been through one turbulent transfer window this year, and another late reshuffle up front risks unsettling a squad that is still trying to find its rhythm under a new head coach. Supporters who lived through the uncertainty of the past twelve months will understand exactly why the timing of all this matters as much as the names involved.

Squad balance remains the bigger question

Strip away the individual names and the underlying issue for Liverpool is one of balance. Trading Gakpo for Barcola might keep the numbers up front looking steady on paper, but it does nothing to address the concerns supporters still have about depth in defensive midfield. Under Andoni Iraola, how these final days are handled could end up defining how the whole summer gets judged, regardless of which winger walks through the door.

Richard Hughes and the recruitment department are, by all accounts, juggling several tracks at once, weighing price, availability and tactical fit as the clock runs down. That is standard practice in the modern transfer market, but it does not make it any less nerve shredding to watch play out from the stands.

It is also worth remembering that Gakpo has looked genuinely sharp in the opening weeks of the season, a marked improvement on a difficult 2025/26 campaign that saw his form dip badly for long stretches. Selling a player just as he rediscovers his best level is exactly the sort of decision that tends to look worse with hindsight than it does in the moment.

Our take

There is no doubting the ambition behind a possible £123m move for Barcola. That is a serious fee for a serious player, and it tells you plenty about how highly Liverpool rate him. But pairing that ambition with the possible exit of a player who has started the season well feels like an unnecessary risk. Selling Gakpo and scrambling for a replacement in the same breath is not considered planning, it is reactive business, and reactive business in the transfer market tends to cost more than it should.

Sarr would be a useful addition on his day, and the mystery alternative might yet turn out to be a smart piece of business. Even so, supporters will be entitled to wonder whether this is a carefully managed plan or a fire drill dressed up as one. Deadline week always brings a bit of theatre, but Liverpool still have enough unresolved issues elsewhere in the squad without adding another expensive improvisation to the pile.