On the airwaves of RMC Sport, Bradley Barcola’s complicated last few weeks were a topic of discussion. Journalist Daniel Riolo, who has often been critical of the 22-year-old Paris Saint-Germain and French national team striker, sought to defend him in the face of all the media hype since his arrival. He is less protective of his level and sees Désiré Doué (19) overtaking him.
Riolo “I want to speak out against it.”
“Luis Enrique intervened to say: ‘What do you mean, you’re starting to ask questions about him when a month ago we were talking about him like Maradona’. In that case, Luis Enrique was absolutely right.
But that doesn’t mean he’s protected him much before, because as early as last year he sent out the message that he expected Barcola to be Mbappé’s successor. In any case, it was clear to Barcola and his entourage that this was the case. So I want to speak out against that.
What really pisses me off is the exaggeration and the media narrative with stories that people want to create, like that of Barcola, who should eventually be Mbappé’s replacement.
He arrived at PSG for a very high price. 50 million euros? That’s huge for a player who had been in Ligue 1 for six months. We immediately made him a great player because he arrived at PSG. It’s a risky business.
Riolo “Doué is a cut above Barcola”.
I saw Luis Enrique’s exit and I saw Barcola’s condition, I think he’s not doing well. He’s having a sort of backlash, digesting all the expectations placed on him.
He’s realizing that, probably even at the club, people think Désiré Doué is more talented than he is. Which is what I think. Intrinsically, I think Doué is better than Barcola, so it’s going to be complicated. But I don’t think I’ve been made out to be the tough guy or anything like that. I still think that the toughest guys are the ones who give false compliments and ride guys at an incredible speed.”
It’s not often that we get the chance, so here we see Riolo agree with Luis Enrique on one point. And it’s a fair point, since the Parisian coach was able to take a swipe at the media, which is too quick to get carried away with the positive and the negative. Goals in a few games in a row, a player is great. A period of less sharp performances and it’s almost the end of a career.
It’s terrible to see this lack of measurement, which applies to players, coaches and clubs in general. Of course, soccer is all about emotion. But when it comes to analysis, you have to keep a certain distance.
What’s less clear is what Riolo has to say about Luis Enrique, given that he never said he would replace Kylian Mbappé. The Parisian coach has always put the collective first, and there was even some criticism when he talked about having several players put in the goals that the striker scored. He also reminded us that it’s not just about the strikers. No particular pressure for Barcola.
That one comes from the fans and the media, as Riolo asserts. And RMC Sport is one of them. Everything “must” be dramatized, exacerbated. The striker has made a rapid ascent and now has a certain amount of pressure to digest. Let him grow, with defences that know him better. Barcola needs to evolve, as all players do over the course of a career.
We’ll just have to wait and see if he can take that next step and fully assert himself at the highest level. It’s not over just because he’s going through a more difficult period. Just as scoring in the Champions League isn’t enough to say it’s over.
He has qualities, of course. You don’t get to PSG and the French national team by chance. Doué certainly has more “magic” and a finer technique for executing dream actions. The two players are not incompatible. Let’s let them grow, possibly together.
