Liverpool agree £120MILLION deal to sign Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer's biggest transfer

Liverpool are close to finally completing their marquee signing of the summer and are on the verge of a £120million deal for Bradley Barcola.

The club made a breakthrough with Paris Saint-Germain overnight after weeks of negotiations to try to bring down the European champions’ stubborn valuation which started at £145m.

It is now understood the Reds are in line to pay a base fee of £100m with £20m in add-ons in a similar structure to the move to bring Florian Wirtz to England last year. PSG did initially want £145m.

Barcola, 23, has been the top target for several months as Liverpool look to replace Mohamed Salah after his move to Trabzonspor.

They previously targeted – and had a bid rejected for – Yan Diomande, who ended up at Real Madrid.

Negotiations have been led by sporting director Richard Hughes and Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon.

Bradley Barcola is set to join Liverpool after they agreed a £120million fee to sign him

The Paris Saint-Germain and France winger will hope to treat fans to his trademark celebration

This week Liverpool also made checks on Crystal Palace forward Ismaila Sarr and also held discussions for Brighton's Yankuba Minteh.

Liverpool would ideally like two forwards through the door, so signing Barcola would not necessarily dampen their pursuit of Sarr or Minteh. They had also sounded out PSG's Ibrahim Mbaye earlier this month.

The deal will be the biggest of the summer transfer window so far, eclipsing Chelsea's £117m move for Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa.

Barcola came through Lyon's academy but spent the last three seasons at PSG, where he won two Champions Leagues and three Ligue 1 titles.

The winger, who played for France at this summer's World Cup and scored against England in the third-place play-off, hit 39 goals in 152 games for PSG.

Liverpool will be hoping their big summer spend pays off better than last season.

After spending over £450million on new signings including Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike last summer, the 2024-25 Premier League champions struggled to reach the same heights again under Arne Slot.

The Reds only narrowly managed to qualify for the Champions League with a fifth-place finish last term but that qualification has allowed them to remain in the conversation for the biggest signings.

He has already won the Champions League twice and the Ligue 1 title three times

Andoni Iraola would still be in the market for another winger even if they secure Barcola

Liverpool, who waved farewell to Salah, Andrew Robertson and Ibrahima Konate at the start of the summer, have so far recruited centre-backs Jeremy Jacquet and Ronald Araujo and winger Victor Munoz.

They have also bid goodbye to Curtis Jones, who recently joined Inter Milan for £30m and left the club without a Scouser in the first team. Jayden Danns could potentially take on that mantle.

The six-time England international, who joined Liverpool aged nine, had his heart set on a move to Serie A for some time after failing to regularly establish himself as a starter at Anfield.

Liverpool had a mixed start to the season on Sunday as they drew 2-2 at Newcastle, but only thanks to a last-gasp penalty from Dominik Szoboszlai.

The Reds went behind within five minutes to an Anthony Elanga goal after a bullet counter-attack, but got on level terms early in the second half thanks to a fine Cody Gakpo strike.

Joe Willock restored Newcastle's lead within two minutes but Szoboszlai got his chance from the spot in the dying moments of the game after Lewis Hall brought down Munoz.

'It's a strange feeling. Not the result we wanted but it's true, the way we scored the goal in the end, it tastes better. Still, we would have definitely preferred the win,' said Iraola.

'We started the game the worst way we knew. Newcastle away, first game of the season, the atmosphere, they have very fast players and we concede the goal,.

'They punished us and we had to go against the result. But we didn't give up in any moment.'