Losing your best player is rarely going to be looked upon as a positive, and that goes double when you lost them for free. Add in paying hundreds of millions of euros for them in the first place, them being the national face of the sport and arguably the top talent on the planet in their respective role and…well, Paris Saint-Germain didn’t have too much reason to be happy when Kylian Mbappé departed the Parc des Princes this past summer.
And yet, as has been shown at so many clubs before, out of the weeds can spring the hopeful flower which gives optimism for the future. In Paris this year, that is Bradley Barcola.
In truth, there’s not even any real need to delve deep into numbers of how and why to realise Barcola has taken an almighty leap forward this term: Ten starts, ten goals, two assists, most with his right foot, one with his left, one with his head.
The 22-year-old Frenchman is absolutely flying, the starting (and starring) left-winger in Luis Enrique’s system, both freed up and forced to step up by Mbappé’s departure. Look at PSG’s team this year and it lacks star quality compared to previous campaigns; the player with the most Ligue 1 minutes played is Willian Pacho, an Ecuadorian centre-back; the most assists come from 20-year-old Portuguese midfielder João Neves. Marquinhos, Ousmane Dembélé and Achraf Hakimi have long been big names, sure, but never the absolute elite in the way of some previous stars who have departed the club over the past couple of years.
In Barcola they might think they have the next one to join those ranks. The winger leads the way in the squad for goals of course, but it’s more that he’s an across-the-board top player in most attacking metrics: top four for xG, chances created, shots and dribbles per 90. Look around Ligue 1 and it’s even more impressive: the division’s top scorer, he has the highest xG, more than every similar attacker in the league for shots per 90, shots on target per 90, long ball completion rate and touches in the opposition box.
If some of that is down to PSG’s domestic dominance, it’s also down to his own relentlessness: Barcola is an aggressive, determined figure who will not just look to beat a man to get a shot away, but will hound his opponent, shutting them down, winning back the ball to aid his team whenever possible. From that side of his game, it’s arguable that his game mentality approached by having a year or two trying desperately to be the additional pick to an Mbappé: while the star name must start, hopeful extras must bide their time and show more than just technical qualities to earn a place in the team. Barcola has won more duels than 80% of similar players in the league this term, and while he’s now more the team’s outlet and end product rather than doing the donkey work of others, there’s no doubt that has played a part in his growth.
Even with a wider lens beyond Ligue 1, Barcola ranks in the 91st percentile for goals, 74th for defensive actions and 73rd for chances created this season, among other wingers and attackers in Europe’s top leagues.
All this, and at 22 years of age. To put this into some sort of context, he’s shooting at a higher per 90 rate than Cole Palmer and Lamine Yamal, is hitting them on target more frequently than Jhon Durán or Michael Olise, is making more dribbles than Savinho, Nico Williams or Florian Wirtz and is creating more chances per 90 than Jamal Musiala or Morgan Rogers.
They are all some of the most highly rated, frequently spoken about and celebrated under-23 stars around Europe this season and previously; very few – if any – can do all of those things with such consistency as Barcola.
A big measuring stick for him this term is going to be his performances in the Champions League. There he’ll come up against the better defences in theory, but so far PSG have been largely poor: one win from four and outside even the playoffs right now at the halfway stage, despite it being basically designed so none of the big teams can fail quite that much. Surely they’ll make their way into the top 24 at some stage, but Barcola is without a goal there so far. Away to Bayern Munich is their next test, and it would be an ideal stage for him to give a big showing of his talent, but also to show whether he can be the go-to guy to rescue his team, not just help them be flat-track bullies domestically.
This PSG side doesn’t really have the look of one which will go deep this year in Europe, but that doesn’t mean they can’t produce sensational stars again. Barcola is primed to be exactly that this year.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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