Sawt Falasteen - Iraola hails Barcola mentality after blockbuster Liverpool move

The France winger became the second-most expensive signing in Liverpool's history on Monday when he joined for a fee of up to £124 million ($167 million).

The fee is second only to the £125 million Liverpool paid Newcastle for Sweden star Alexander Isak last year.

Iraola, who has started his career at Anfield with two Premier League draws, welcomed the signing of the PSG player, saying he would be available for Friday's match at Ipswich.

"It was our priority, let's say, to sign a very, very good player in that position," the Spaniard told reporters on Thursday.

"And I think he has come also with the right mentality. I've learnt from him that he wanted Liverpool a lot. He just wanted to come here and I think that's a good first sign.

"And being the player that he is and the things that he has won recently, I think he has come also with the willingness to help us.

"And I'm very happy with him and he trained well with us. If everything goes well today's training, also he will definitely be available for tomorrow."

Barcola, who operates largely on the left, will be part of an expensively assembled Liverpool attack that also includes Isak, Hugo Ekitike and playmaker Florian Wirtz.

The arrival of the Frenchman has raised questions about the future of left winger Cody Gakpo, who was linked with a move away from Anfield during the summer transfer window.

But Iraola said he was happy to keep Gakpo, whom he described as a "very valuable player".

Former Bournemouth manager Iraola, who replaced the sacked Arne Slot, said he was happy with the club's summer signings, including Barcola, Jeremy Jacquet and Victor Munoz.

"The club has decided that those signings that we've done are the ones that improved our team, improved our position," he said.

"There were other options that we decided not to take for different reasons. Sometimes it's sporting reasons because they don't improve what you have, sometimes it's because of economic reasons -- it didn't make sense in terms of the market to do those movements.

"But I'm happy now that I know what we have. I have a lot of quality in the team. Now is the moment for us, for the players, for me, to develop what we have."

P.AbuBaker--SF-PST