They were separated by 264 days. December brought the outburst that ought to have accelerated Liverpool’s search for a winger. Almost nine months later came the news they had reached an agreement in principle to buy Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain.
Perhaps replacing Mohamed Salah was always going to be hard. Liverpool’s summer in the transfer market has certainly made it look so; the advance warning they had from the moment at Leeds when the Egyptian said he had been “thrown under the bus” and accused the club of breaking their promises to him should have given them a headstart. The subsequent rapprochement only had a temporary feel; it gave Liverpool months to find a successor.
