‘I wanted to bring him’ – Why Bayern Munich were forced to pull out of mega-money transfer for Liverpool star Bradley Barcola and Barcelona’s Anthony Gordon

Speaking to Sport Bild, Bayern sporting director Eberl detailed his personal admiration for Barcola. “To be honest, I already know Bradley from my time at Leipzig. I wanted to bring him to Leipzig,” he stated.

Eberl explained that earlier talks had laid the foundation for Bayern’s recent approach. “We sat down together and discussed it back then,” he added. “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.”

However, the finances involved ultimately forced Bayern to walk away. Discussing Liverpool’s £123m outlay, Eberl admitted: “When you hear about sums like that, it was too much for us. With Luis Diaz, we made a decision that was also costly, but on a different scale than Bradley.”

The situation proved identical regarding Gordon. “It’s no secret that we were interested in Anthony Gordon for the left wing,” Eberl conceded. “We decided we were not doing that because he was simply too expensive.”