Bradley Barcola was the player Arsenal “needed to sign” during the summer transfer window.
That is the view of Gunners legend Ian Wright, who has delivered a verdict on his former club’s business after missing out on deals for Vinicius Junior and Morgan Rogers.
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While Arsenal were hopeful of bolstering their attacking options with a marquee signing, to go alongside Christos Tzolis, ultimately their pursuit of the aforementioned duo ended in failure.
Chelsea swooped in to sign Rogers for £117million and Vinicius Jr signed a new contract at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Barcola had been linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium as an alternative but sealed a £123m switch to Liverpool around 30 hours before the deadline, a deal that Wright believes Arsenal could end up regretting.
“That is the player Arsenal need to sign. He comes in from a brilliant PSG side and he’s played with players who are on that level,” Wright said on the latest episode of Stick to Football.
“Now he’s coming into a Liverpool side where he is that superstar and will bring them [his teammates] up there.
“That’s what we needed. Whether you think Morgan Rogers could have done that, I would have been happy with that. But Barcola was available.”
Jamie Carragher, meanwhile, was in agreement with Wright, highlighting the drop in quality when comparing Arsenal’s right-hand side to the left.
“I’m happy it didn’t happen but I was looking at the Barcola thing,” he added.
“For me with Arsenal, left wing has always felt like where the drop is compared to [Bukayo] Saka, [Martin] Odegaard, [Kai] Havertz.
“The new kid [Christos] Tzolis has made a decent start.
“But the longer the Barcola thing went on, and then Arsenal didn’t get Vinicius Jr or Alvarez, I was thinking is that [signing Barcola] not the one?”
