Bayern Munich sporting director Max Eberl has confirmed the club looked at both Bradley Barcola and Anthony Gordon in the summer but walked away from both deals because of the fees involved.
Barcola joined Liverpool from Paris Saint-Germain in a £123 million transfer — the second-highest fee in the club’s history behind Alexander Isak. The 24-year-old France international has already featured for the Reds, making his debut as a substitute in the 2-0 win at Ipswich and starting in the 2-1 Champions League victory over Atlético Madrid at Anfield, where he was forced off with cramp.
Eberl told Sport Bild he has a long-standing connection with the player:
“To be honest, I already know Bradley from my time at Leipzig. I wanted to bring him to Leipzig. We sat down together and discussed it back then. That’s how I developed a closer relationship with Bradley. So there was always interest there. Of course, we also looked into him at Bayern.”
He was clear on why the move never materialised:
“When you hear about sums like that, it was too much for us. With Luis Díaz, we made a decision that was also costly, but on a different scale than Bradley.”
Bayern also considered Anthony Gordon before the England international left Newcastle for Barcelona in a £69 million deal. Eberl said:
“It’s no secret that we were interested in Anthony Gordon for the left wing. We decided we were not doing that because he was simply too expensive.”
Instead, Bayern added Ismael Saibari, Nathaniel Brown and Bara Sapoko Ndiaye to Vincent Kompany’s squad. Several players departed, including João Palhinha, Noel Aseko, Daniel Peretz, Alexander Nübel, Jonah Kusi-Asare, Maurice Krattenmacher and Lovro Zvonarek.
The comments underline Bayern’s selective approach in the transfer market this summer — interest in high-profile attacking talent was genuine, but the club refused to stretch to the levels Liverpool and Barcelona were prepared to pay.
