Iraola makes honest admission on Liverpool transfers after Barcola question

Andoni Iraola admitted he is looking forward to "working with certainties" once the summer transfer window is closed and Bradley Barcola is a Liverpool player.

Liverpool have agreed a deal worth £123million for the Paris Saint-Germain attacker, who will undergo a medical this weekend. After a long saga, they have agreed to pay the French side an initial fee of £106m, plus a potential £17m in add-ons.

Barcola will bolster Iraola's attacking options and join Jeremy Jacquet, Victor Munoz and Ronald Araujo as the new arrivals. Liverpool have begun the season with back-to-back 2-2 draws after they were held by Nottingham Forest at Anfield on Saturday and Iraola is looking forward to Tuesday's 11pm deadline.

"We've been patient all summer and now we just have to wait," he told BBC Match of the Day when asked about Barcola post-match. "We just have to wait a couple more days and see how we finish and how the squad looks in the second half of September.

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"Honestly, I am looking forward to having who we have and a definitive squad so we can start working with certainties."

Munoz's late strike earned Liverpool a point against Forest after Morgan Gibbs-White's penalty, Dan Ndoye's low finish and Alexander Isak's tap-in. The Reds have been far from solid in their opening two matches and still have a few days to recruit more players.

Asked in the post-match press conference whether there would be further additions before the transfer deadline, Iraola said: "I cannot tell you anything different right now. It's true that there are things going on, like is normal because we are talking about the last weeks of the market, but now we have to wait.

"I'm looking forward to having the squad [on] September 2, [so we can say] this is who we are and working with certainties. Now everything is quite like uncertain and it's the same for every team, but it's how the competition works. Now we have to wait just some [more] days and work with what we have after the market closes."

Pressed further on his squad, Iraola said: "We are talking now about the hypothesis because we don't know what's going to be the squad on September 2. I think every analysis that I can make is when I know and when everything finishes, when I know who's going to be here all the season or at least until January.

"So now, we've waited all the summer, so we have to wait two, three more days, analyse and see what we have when the market closes."

Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard is excited by the arrival of Barcola. "Incredible talent," he said on TNT Sports. "This is a player who has won two Champions Leagues in the last two years. I don't think he's hit his ceiling yet, still think there's potential there.

"Growth. He can evolve into an even better player which is very exciting. But it's the type of level of player that's going to help take Liverpool to the next level. So I think it's a fantastic deal."

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