Why Bradley Barcola could solve the exact issue Arne Slot flagged at Liverpool
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Bradley Barcola remains a potential option for Liverpool as they aim to replace Mohamed Salah this summer.Arsenal have joined the race for the winger, and some Reds fans think Rio Ngumoha should be given a chance on the left wing ahead of Barcola.But regardless of whether you think the Frenchman would be the right signing for Liverpool or not, he does possess something that this team has been crying out for in the last year: raw pace. How high should Liverpool go to sign Bradley Barcola from PSG?
Maybe Liverpool would be better off signing two or three €50m players… Photo Credit: Getty Images/Catherine Ivill/AMA Bradley Barcola was among fastest players at 2026 World CupLiverpool sold Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz in the summer of 2025, and they were arguably the Reds’ fastest forwards.Mohamed Salah was up there at one point in his career, but it was obvious last season that the Egyptian had lost a yard or two.In turn, it was in no way surprising to see Arne Slot wanting to add more pace to his forward line during what proved to be his last year as manager.Speaking in December 2025, Slot said: “That was one of the things I wanted to add to this team – incredible pace. Because I see many of the top teams have one, two, three individuals that have pace that is exceptional.”Meanwhile, an update from May of this year stated that, among other things, Liverpool believe more pace out wide is needed to make them ‘a very different force next season’.Well, now that FIFA have released data showcasing the fastest players at the 2026 World Cup, it is clear Barcola fits that bill.When competing for France, the PSG star notched a top speed of 36.32km/h, making him the seventh-fastest player at the tournament.Top 10 fastest players at 2026 World CupTop speed (km/h)Kylian Mbappe37.61Anthony Elanga37.16Micky Van De Ven36.77Jordan Bos36.67Erling Haaland36.52Abdukodir Khusanov36.46Bradley Barcola36.32Djed Spence36.22Theo Hernandez36.17Nelson Semedo35.9Who was the fastest Liverpool player at the World Cup?Unsurprisingly, none of the Liverpool attackers who made it to the 2026 World Cup came anywhere close to those numbers.Cody Gakpo ranked 247th on the list with a top speed of 33.16km/h, Florian Wirtz had a top speed of 33.03km/h (264th), and Alexander Isak was all the way down in 343rd place (32.61km/h).Ryan Gravenberch was the quickest Liverpool talent at the tournament (35.61km/h), followed by Virgil van Dijk (35.14km/h).But that does not really help the Merseyside outfit when it comes to improving the pace of their forward line.Join Our NewsletterReceive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox