PSG also acquired 20-year-old Bradley Barcola for 45 million euros
PSG will pay €45 million for the 20-year-old, with a possible €5 million added in bonuses. He is a great young star of french football
The arrival of Luis Enrique in the technical leadership of the champion, Paris Saint-Germain, has completely changed the philosophy of the French team, which now invests in young people.
Paris Saint-Germain have completed the signing of France Under-21 international striker Bradley Barcola from Lyon on a five-year contract.
Paris will pay €45 million for the 20-year-old, with a possible €5 million added in bonuses. "I am really happy and proud to join such a great club," Barcola, a product of Lyon's academy, told.
"It's a club with a lot of ambition, playing in big competitions and I'll give it my all."
After starting out in football with his hometown team of AS Buers Villeurbanne, it was in 2010 that Barcola joined Olympique Lyonnais's academy, aged just eight. Season after season, the young Frenchman rose through Lyon's youth ranks until he became one of their most promising strikers.
Alongside teammates Rayan Cherki and Castello Lukeba, the player, who was born to a French mother and a Togolese father, broke through with OL's U19s in the 2019–2020 season, a campaign in which he scored 11 goals in 17 league games. With solid performances later down the line in the UEFA Youth League and with Les Gones' reserves in the French fourth tier, in September 2021, Barcola signed his first professional contract with the club that had developed him.
Two months later, he was given a baptism of fire for his first-team debut; his opening game as a professional was also his opening game in Europe, as Barcola came off the bench against Sparta Prague in the UEFA Europa League. 11 minutes was all the time he needed to prove decisive as he bagged an assist in what was a rip-roaring debut that would later earn him a place not only in the Lyon squad but also in the hearts of the fans, who were in awe of his pace and technical finesse.
After making 13 appearances across both domestic and European football in his first season as a pro, Barcola slowly but surely established himself as a key component of Lyon's front line during the 2022–2023 campaign. Mainly placed on the left wing, the young right-footer would support France international Alexandre Lacazette, with whom he formed a highly efficient strike partnership.
From 2021
Barcola was promoted to the Lyon first team in 2021 and made 47 appearances in all competitions. 23 of those came in the second half of the 2022-23 season during which he scored seven goals and provided 10 assists.
Barcola, joins a list of notable arrivals at the Paris-based club, including midfielder Marco Asensio from Real Madrid, striker Ousmane Dembele from Barcelona and defender Lucas Hernandez from Bayern Munich.
Manos Staramopoulos
Journalist and Analyst of International Football and Affairs
Chief Editor English Zone of Discoveryfootball.com
Athens (Greece)
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