Bradley Barcola has said that he doesn’t feel any pressure to try and emulate Mo Salah at Liverpool and is instead focusing on creating his own legacy at Anfield.
At the end of the summer, the Reds spent an initial £106m (potentially rising to £123m, via The Athletic) to sign the French winger from Paris Saint-Germain, with the 24-year-old effectively brought in as the right-sided replacement for the Egyptian King.
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It took the new signing seven matches to get off the mark for LFC, with that famine turning to feast in the form of a hat-trick against LASK in mid-October, and he’s followed that up with assists in the wins over Brentford and Brighton (Transfermarkt).
In an interview with Sky Sports, Barcola defiantly insisted that he doesn’t feel a burden to emulate Salah or repay the substantial transfer fee paid for him, with his sole focus being to make his ‘own mark’ and let his performances do the talking.
The France winger said: “First of all, I wasn’t the one who decided the transfer fee, so that’s not been my problem.
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“Regarding Mo Salah, he’s a legend here, a huge one. He’s done big things here and, for that, I have an enormous respect for him, but it’s not pressure for me at all.
“I’m not Mo Salah, so I’m going to try to contribute whatever I can to the club and make my own mark on its history. I don’t feel any pressure about that.”
(Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
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Whoever was signed as the effective replacement for the legendary Egyptian was always going to face inevitable comparisons with our former no.11, but such were the standards set by Salah that striving to emulate him would be near-impossible.
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Nobody is expecting Barcola to match the Trabzonspor man’s 257-goal tally for Liverpool over a nine-year period. As the Frenchman acknowledged, his job is simply to deliver the best that he can for the Reds.
There have been some moments to forget in his first few weeks on Merseyside, such as the missed sitter against Brentford last month, but he also conjured up a tremendous assist for Alexander Isak’s winning goal in the same match.
The 24-year-old might’ve drawn a blank against Arsenal on Sunday, but his direct running along the left flank was difficult for the Gunners to contain during the first half in particular, offering the kind of proactive threat that we love to see from wingers playing for LFC.
Salah was a unique figure at Liverpool, and Barcola doesn’t strictly have to emulate what the Egyptian has done in order to be regarded as a success at Anfield in time to come. We’ve seen glimpses of what he can offer to the Reds, and time is very much on his side to build upon that promising start.
