Although he is overshadowed by Ballon d'Or level players Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise, and, of course, actual reigning winner Ousmane Dembele on the French national team, Bradley Barcola still has a key role for Les Bleus and has been scoring and assisting already at the 2026 World Cup. Tottenham Hotspur have concrete links to other left wingers this summer transfer window, but for the fans, the PSG man is by far the dream transfer target.
And it is easy to see why. Barcola is more explosive, productive, and talented in front of goal than the likes of Cody Gakpo, Marcus Rashford, Savinho, and Crysencio Summerville who are actually being linked to Spurs this summer. Those four are all good players, but they do not pack the same punch as Barcola would.
The problem is that while Tottenham made huge statements by signing Jan Paul van Hecke, Mateus Fernandes, and Sandro Tonali as top Premier League players that Roberto De Zerbi begged for - and paid a premium price to get - they are still major underdogs to the other Premier League Big Six clubs for the marquee attackers. They always lose out on them.
Arsenal after Bradley Barcola
According to reporting from Fabrizio Romano, Tottenham Hotspur's arch rivals Arsenal are eyeing Bradley Barcola this summer transfer window, and if things were to fall apart between them and their top left winger target Morgan Rogers, another Tottenham winger target of yore, then Barcola could be an option for them.
Fab has mostly been banging the drum for Liverpool to go after Barcola as their new, dynamic left winger to replace Luis Diaz, as PSG are the ones destined to signed Yan Diomande, not the Reds. While PSG have not made Barcola available, nor even signed Diomande yet, there is a prevailing belief that Barcola could make himself available if the Ivorian joins the Ligue 1 giants.
From there, Cody Gakpo could become expendable if Liverpool manage to sign Barcola, but then Tottenham fans will wonder why should Spurs simply let Liverpool sign Barcola unchallenged when they coudl make an even bigger statement than beating Arsenal and Manchester City for 100 million pound midfielder Sandro Tonali by spending that money on Barcola to beat the Reds and Gunners to the punch.
Losing out on Barcola to Arsenal after the Eberechi Eze fiasco last summer would be a disaster, so maybe Arsenal being mentioned by Fab will get Roberto De Zerbi to think a little bit more about challenging to sign his old Ligue 1 foe from Le Classique.
Today's best reads
Bradley Barcola said what Tottenham fans have been whispering
Fabrizio Romano said the ugly truth out loud about Maghnes Akliouche to Tottenham
David Ornstein's latest Yan Diomande news opened a Bradley Barcola door for Tottenham
Tottenham have messed up Arsenal's midfield transfer plan