Liverpool's Desperation Fuels PSG's £145 Million Price for Barcola

Michael Owen believes Paris Saint-Germain are ready to squeeze every last pound out of Liverpool’s desperation.

With the transfer deadline closing in and Mohamed Salah already out the door to Trabzonspor on a free, Liverpool are scrambling for a winger of genuine pedigree. The name at the top of their list is clear enough: 23-year-old Frenchman Barcola. The problem is just as clear. PSG want around £145 million.

That figure has stopped the conversation cold.

Speaking to the ECHO, Owen didn’t hide his disbelief at the numbers being thrown around for a player yet to kick a ball in the Premier League. In his view, PSG can smell Liverpool’s need and are pricing accordingly, knowing the club have lost not just a star, but an era-defining one.

Salah’s departure has left a crater, not a gap. Across nine years on Merseyside, the Egyptian delivered 257 goals and 123 assists in 442 appearances, driving Liverpool to two Premier League titles and a Champions League crown. Those are not just big numbers; they are the backbone of a modern dynasty.

Now, for the first time in years, Liverpool’s wide options look thin. This is a club that once rolled out Salah, Sadio Mane and Luis Diaz as a rotating threat from the flanks. That depth has eroded. Diaz remains, but the aura of inevitability around Liverpool’s wings has faded.

Owen had long championed a different solution. He previously argued that Jared Bowen should be the man to succeed Salah, believing the West Ham forward’s profile and Premier League record made him an ideal fit. That route, though, appears closed, leaving Liverpool staring at a far more complicated market.

And that is where Barcola comes in. Young, gifted, and already operating at the highest level, he ticks the technical boxes Liverpool like to see. He is also, crucially, available — at least in theory. Yet the £145 million valuation changes the tone of any negotiation. It doesn’t feel like a fee; it feels like a test of how far Liverpool are willing to go to protect their status among Europe’s elite.

Owen’s concern is that everyone now knows Liverpool are “desperate for a top-class player,” and the market is reacting. The club, he suggests, may have to “pay through the nose” to get the right profile in before the window closes. That is the trap of late-window business: the fewer the options, the higher the premium.

There is another layer to this. Owen believes Liverpool may not just need one winger, but two, to properly rebuild the wide threat that once terrified defences across England and Europe. Barcola, he accepts, has the quality and seems genuinely attainable, and the interest from Anfield feels real enough. The question is not about talent. It is about cost.

For Liverpool’s recruitment team, this is the kind of decision that defines cycles. Do they walk away from a fee that feels “extortionate” and risk entering the season underpowered on the flanks? Or do they push their financial limits to land a player they believe can help bridge the chasm left by Salah?

The clock is ticking, the price is soaring, and PSG know exactly how much Liverpool need an answer.