The Barcola situation is moving, but money is still in the way

Two weeks. That's what's left of the summer transfer window, and Liverpool are entering that frantic final stretch with their biggest piece of business still unfinished. Bradley Barcola remains the primary target — a winger who, by all accounts, wants to come to Merseyside — yet Paris Saint-Germain's asking price of £145m continues to be the wall the two clubs keep running into.

The encouraging news, if you're looking for it, is that there is genuine momentum here. Fabrizio Romano has reported that personal terms between Liverpool and Barcola have already been verbally agreed, and that the Frenchman's preference is Anfield above anywhere else. Regular dialogue between the clubs is ongoing, according to Romano, so this isn't a transfer that's quietly dying — it's one that's waiting on the numbers to make sense. The question is whether both sides can find that middle ground before the window slams shut.

There's a broader PSG dimension worth watching too. The Parisian club are closing in on deals to bring in Mika Godts and Ferran Torres, and if those arrivals are confirmed, the pressure to move Barcola on could shift the negotiating dynamic in Liverpool's favour. Barcola was named on the bench but didn't feature in PSG's UEFA Super Cup win over Aston Villa on Wednesday — which, depending on how you read these things, feels significant.

Carragher's midfield warning deserves to be taken seriously

While the Barcola saga rumbles on, Jamie Carragher used his appearance on The Overlap Fan Debate to highlight what he sees as an equally pressing concern — and it has nothing to do with the attack. The midfield, in Carragher's view, is still a serious problem, and the former Reds defender wasn't mincing his words.

"The midfield for me is still a huge problem for Liverpool," he said. "I haven't watched all the pre-season games, but I watched the last two against decent opposition — it was Leeds and then Monaco. And the problem Liverpool had last season was there was space everywhere in midfield. That has not gone away at all."

It's the kind of observation that stings precisely because it's hard to argue with. Liverpool have not added a midfielder this summer, and Carragher's concern is that deploying Dominik Szoboszlai in a central midfield role alongside Ryan Gravenberch — rather than as a number 10 — will only deepen the issue. "That's only going to get bigger with the deployment of Szoboszlai in midfield," Carragher added. "It looks like they're going to play him, rather than as a number 10, almost as a central midfield player alongside Gravenberch and that is just pure box-to-box." Whether new manager Andoni Iraola has a tactical answer to that structural gap remains to be seen, but the pre-season evidence hasn't exactly quietened the doubts.

What the next fortnight could define

Iraola, who has already been briefed on the squad's needs at Anfield, arrives knowing that replacing Mohamed Salah's output is the headline task — but Carragher's comments are a reminder that the challenges run deeper than the right wing alone. The 43-year-old Spaniard needs attacking reinforcements, but he may well need midfield solutions just as urgently.

The coming days could prove decisive on Barcola. If PSG's incoming business is wrapped up swiftly, Liverpool's hand gets stronger. If the fee dispute drags on, the risk of the window closing without a deal becomes very real — and that would be a difficult outcome to spin positively for a club with genuine ambitions this season.

One way or another, Liverpool's summer is about to get a lot more interesting.