"I will speak about the transfer window when it is finished," Luis Enrique said after Paris Saint Germain lost 0-1 to Lens in the Trophée des Champions. The PSG manager was asked about Bradley Barcola, but the answer quickly moved away from transfer detail and towards a broader line on squad happiness. Liverpool are in talks to sign Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye, and neither player travelled for Lens vs Paris Saint Germain.

Enrique's stance on unhappy players

Enrique's strongest line came when he was talking about the kind of squad he wants around him. "We are a very young, very ambitious team. It is important for us to make changes and look for players who enjoy playing our way and who love playing for PSG. That is very clear to us. When a player doesn't want to come here, or doesn't have a smile on their face about being here, it is better to find another solution," he said.

That wording is doing a lot of work. He did not mention Barcola by name in the quote, but the message fits the situation around a player being chased by Liverpool and left out of the squad in a match PSG lost 1-0. Barcola has already played 8 matches in the 2026 season and scored 3 goals, so this is not the profile of a player on the edge of the team.

Liverpool's push for Barcola

The transfer noise is not coming out of nowhere. Liverpool are in talks to sign both Barcola and Mbaye, and PSG's own stance makes the story feel active rather than speculative. Mbaye has made 4 appearances in the 2026 season and scored 1 goal, so he is a different sort of target, younger and less established than Barcola.

PSG's valuation talk adds another layer. Barcola is being priced at £145m by the French club, while another report puts his value at €150m, or £128m. The exact figure matters less than the direction of travel: PSG are setting the bar high, and Enrique is sounding like a manager willing to move on if a player is not fully on board.

He ended the exchange with the shortest line of all: "Thank you, goodbye." That came after PSG had already left Barcola and Mbaye out against Lens, and it leaves Liverpool following a deal that is still live rather than closed.

Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →