Virgil van Dijk airs his feelings about Bradley Barcola amid imminent £123m transfer to Liverpool
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August 30th 2026, 13:27 (Photos by Buda Mendes and Jan Kruger/Getty Images) Virgil van Dijk has said that Bradley Barcola would be ‘welcomed with open arms’ once he completes his impending transfer to Liverpool.The French winger is set to undergo a medical today ahead of his £123m move to Anfield from Paris Saint-Germain (The Athletic), which’d make him the Reds’ second most expensive signing of all time and conclude a pursuit which has lasted for months.The 23-year-old will come to Merseyside as a two-time Champions League winner with PSG and a scorer of three goals for semi-finalists France at this summer’s World Cup, and the fee being paid for him indicates just how much faith (and money) LFC are investing in him.Van Dijk speaks out about imminent Barcola transferSpeaking to reporters after Liverpool’s 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, Van Dijk was asked about Barcola’s impending transfer to the Reds, one that the current captain has endorsed.The 35-year-old said (via The Express): “He’s a good player, that’s the only thing I can say. “He’s a player with pace.
If he comes here then he will be welcomed with open arms, but until it’s official, there’s no point speaking about it.” (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images) Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? The 23-year-old shouldn’t be burdened with the pressure of trying to live up to the Egyptian’s generational standards, but the fee that he’s set to command will inevitably bring with it an expectation to make an immediate impact – ‘settling in’ time will be in scarce supply from sceptics who’d be waiting for any opportunity to jab the knife.
Although Van Dijk has voiced his excitement about Barcola coming in at Liverpool, he’s also been quite vocal about his disapproval of plans to sell Cody Gakpo to Manchester City, a prospective transfer which’d offset so much of the goodwill that the France winger’s arrival would ordinarily generate among the fan base. We still need to wait for the PSG forward to complete his medical and all the final bits of paperwork before we can properly toast his move to Anfield, but it’s apparent from the captain’s remarks how popular an addition he’d be to the dressing room.