There were 264 days between the two moments. In December came the outburst that should have sped up Liverpool’s hunt for a winger. Almost nine months on, news emerged that they had reached an agreement in principle to sign Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain.

Perhaps replacing Mohamed Salah was always going to be difficult. Liverpool’s activity in the transfer market this summer has certainly suggested as much; the warning signs had been there from the moment at Leeds when the Egyptian said he had been “thrown under the bus” and accused the club of breaking promises made to him. That should have handed Liverpool an early start. The reconciliation that followed always seemed temporary; it effectively gave Liverpool months to identify a successor.

And perhaps they still have not done so, not least because Barcola has not yet completed his medical. He is naturally more of a left winger. But at an initial fee of a little over £100m, which could rise to £120m, he is set to become the marquee addition out wide. Liverpool have already signed one winger this summer in the less expensive Victor Munoz, whose substitute debut at Newcastle came in Salah’s old position on the right. They have also brought in a manager whose tactical approach depends on wingers, in Andoni Iraola.

The Basque coach has had to remain patient. He will hope Barcola proves worth waiting for. “I definitely would have preferred to have the wingers ready on the first day,” Iraola said. “The same for every position. But I understand that it's not easy in the market and the wingers that we are trying to sign, they are of a high level. They are wanted by a lot of clubs, and I think it's very difficult also for the club to close those situations. But as long as we arrive at the right place at the end and we sign the right players, I think it would be worth it even if they haven't been with us in pre-season.”

Liverpool were unable to “close the situation”, to use Iraola’s wording, with Yan Diomande, who appeared to be their first-choice target. They made an offer worth up to £86m. The Ivory Coast player instead left RB Leipzig for Real Madrid in a £115m move.

That underlined the inflation in fees for wide players; Salah arrived for only £36.5m, a figure that quickly looked like a bargain. Yet the £100m winger is a much more recent phenomenon, and Chelsea’s choice to spend £117m on Morgan Rogers may not have helped Liverpool. PSG had initially quoted £145m for Barcola, creating a stand-off before negotiations eventually moved forward.

Liverpool have been keeping their budget for wingers. The problem was identifying the right one. They have also made two bids for Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh and shown interest in Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr, both of whom, unlike Barcola, are more commonly used on the right.

The shared traits among their different targets seem to be speed and the ability to take on defenders. Iraola set out exactly what he wants. He explained: “We need wingers who can make the difference, who can be the man who can make the difference in isolation, who can attack the spaces, who can also do the defensive work that we are going to demand from them in terms of pressing or sometimes following the full-backs. And also if they can provide numbers then it’s perfect.”

Perhaps nobody could replicate Salah’s output, considering he scored 257 goals for Liverpool, but they still need someone capable of producing major numbers. Barcola scored 11 times in Ligue 1 last season, averaging one goal every 159 minutes. Across all competitions in Paris Saint-Germain’s marathon 2024-25 campaign, he produced 21 goals and another 21 assists. He also ended the recent World Cup with three goals.

One possible model is a winger Liverpool admired but did not bid for in January, when he joined Manchester City. At the time, Antoine Semenyo’s £62.5m price looked high, though he had scored twice against Liverpool at Anfield the previous August. He registered 11 goals and five assists in the Premier League in 2024-25, then 10 goals and another three assists in the first half of last season. Those numbers came for a Bournemouth side managed by Iraola.

The fact that Semenyo has mostly played on the right for City may leave Iraola wishing Liverpool had been the club to buy him in January. Barcola, though, has been on the radar of his prospective new club for years; he caught the eye against Liverpool in Dubai in a friendly for Lyon during the 2022 World Cup.

He lost his place in PSG’s front three to Desire Doue, but Liverpool can look back a decade, to the signings of Sadio Mane and Salah, for examples of wingers who reached another level at Anfield. They left behind a legacy, but also the question of who can match the standards they established. Or indeed, who can satisfy every one of Iraola’s demands. “It is difficult to find someone who can tick all the boxes, but it is what we are trying to do,” he said. He must now hope Barcola can become Liverpool’s new man to tick those boxes.