Barcola, 2002, is Deschamps’ surprise for the Blues. A French Cup-Championship double in his pocket, the PSG striker joined his teammates at Clairefontaine this Wednesday, May 29, with a view to making his debut in the A selection, before the Euro. Another giant leap, for a player as atypical as he is hardworking.
If at the age of 18, Warren Zaire-Emery is by far the youngest player on Didier Deschamps’ list, it is his lively partner at Paris Saint-Germain Bradley Barcola, 21, ” tonic on its supports », who will be the real novice of the Blues’ A selection at the Euro. Having passed through the under-20s and the Espoirs, he has not yet made any selections for them.
His last two years, and more precisely his last two second halves of the season, surprised many observers, starting with his coaches. Let’s stop for a moment on Laurent Blanc, who saw the young man known for being skinny win in Ligue 1 from the OL bench. He admitted it openly.
We didn’t see him right away, Bradley. He didn’t give his best, or what he’s giving today. He didn’t let us see it right away. Or maybe we didn’t see it.
“On the way out, I didn’t go well”
With his height of six feet, the slender winger has something disconcerting when he provokes and escapes, most often on the left. How many thought the ball was going out, or that they had it? But at the finish, it is often Barcola who puts his foot in front.
As noted by Barcelona’s Araújo, on the evening of the elimination against PSG in the quarter return of the C1, the Parisian sometimes also shifts into the axis. For the Uruguayan, pushed into error, it ended in a red and for his club, in a new disappointment signed by Mbappé against Paris SG.
After the exploit of the return match in Barcelona, Barcola, already a scorer against Real Sociedad in the previous round, remembered on RMC Sport his unprecedented double confrontation and this magical moment, when he ” go ahead » his evening opponent to corner him, before his D pass to “Dembouz”, a little later.
In the first leg, I had a somewhat similar action, but I didn’t get ahead well. So (Araujo) had caught up with me. There, I told myself that I was going to pass directly in front of him and I knew that there was nothing he could do. Either he made a mistake or I played one on one.
Bradley surprises, but above all, he learns. He learns from his mistakes, even more so alongside all these legendary names that surround him, he who changed galaxies barely a year ago, during a transfer deemed expensive from the Rhône. At the last moment, Paris had bet on this go who had scored at the Parc.
Propelled to the highest level by a coach, Luis Enrique, who obviously trusts him, sees great potential in him, surrounds him and pushes him, just like his elders, Barcola finished the 2023-2024 season with ten participations in C1 and a semi-final against Dortmund, not to mention his confirmation in L1.
“They think he doesn’t work”
Bradley Barcola probably doesn’t come to the Euros to give hair advice. There he found many players he knows, starting with his comrades from Paris Saint-Germain, including world champions Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé, without forgetting world vice-champion Randal Kolo Muani.
We imagined him getting playing time with PSG, and he has in fact settled into the rotation, or even a little more, in the eleven of a squad which also includes Asensio and Ramos. His game ? “ The hooks. No big fantasy, but really hooks, hooks, I’ve always worked on that », he describes on Téléfoot.
He started on synthetics in his neighborhood in Villeurbanne, with his big brother Malcolm, a Togolese international also trained in Lyon. Hooks, therefore, but also already rolled up. He repeats the gestures. Progress reports that it was during an indoor tournament in Vaulx-en-Velin that he was spotted by OL at AS Buers.
On TF1, Mehdi Ghazel, from the said Buers club, rewinds even further, even before the 10th anniversary of the neo-Bleu, when “ the late Alain Jacovelli who has now died “, overdraft. Bradley was hitting the ball against the wall, on the sidelines of his brother Malcolm’s matches. He is then asked to follow his path.
I remember Bradley from his last year, where they had a final where they quickly led the score, and then they were a bit in management. And you have the opposing team which is no longer trying to catch the ball, but which is trying to catch Bradley. And I think they’re still trying to catch him.
Granted Ekenge, Barcola’s childhood friend, confided to the channel: “ Some consider him nonchalant, so they think he doesn’t work. While it’s really not that, he’s a hard worker. He did the OL program in the morning, and that same evening, he went to train, either playing football or doing a little more. He always did more. »
Frankly, he was never really considered a crack player. There was no one who really saw anything in him. When we talked about the 2002 generation at OL, we weren’t going to say Bradley Barcola, we were going to say other players. He was often criticized, for example, “he’s too skinny, he’s not going to break through.” » His family, they believed in him.
“ He always told me that work would change his life and he proved it », concludes Exaucé. “ That’s what shocks me, is that despite the fact that he was never considered a crack, he never doubted himself. And that’s strong, all the same. » « CR7, either in work or in play », confides Barcola on his inspirations.
It’s true that when I was younger, I wasn’t necessarily the highest priority of my generation, but I always worked. It took longer than some. In the end, I’m happy with where I am today.
An atypical, almost magical young person
A dream?, the interviewer asked him, as is tradition on Téléfoot. “ I don’t know, I’m waiting to see. I am cautious », Barcola replied, waiting for the list from Dédé. He was in fact already connected to both the Euro and the Olympics, being also a member of Titi’s Espoirs. “ Honestly, I’m ready for both. »
Relations with part of the public at OL, his former club, were not good this year. Time will do its work. Recently, a former City international, Sydney Govou, came to Barcola’s defense. “ Let’s let him continue his career and be proud to have trained this future great player “, he suggested.
Everyone now seems to be wondering, even the most refractory, how far Bradley Barcola, a pure family product well built by his parents – his mother filmed him and his father reviewed the images – can go. Certainly, his story does not have much to do with the little thumb of 2006, Franck Ribéry, but there he is.
There is no doubt that this versatile winger still has big steps to take, with long strides. Alongside names like Marcus Thuram or Olivier Giroud, of whom he will be the last, we know he is diligent and we should not be surprised if he immediately takes his seven-league boots to training. One thing is certain: he is there to work.
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