Andoni Iraola told to 'kill' Liverpool 'narrative' that's causing 'immense pressure'
Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola has to come out and "kill" the story surrounding winger Bradley Barcola's poor start in the Premier League.
That is according to former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that the boss has to defend his player and "guarantee" him starts in the coming weeks.
The France international netted a hat-trick in the 6-3 win over LASK in the Champions League on Wednesday, but remains without a goal involvement after his opening four league games.
Wyness is adamant that Iraola needs to put his arm around Barcola's shoulder, while also continuing to defend him wherever possible in the press.
The Scottish businessman feels that the 24-year-old's style is more suited to European football at the moment, and it may take him time to adapt to the Premier League.
The Reds splashed out £123million to sign Barcola from PSG in the summer, and they will be desperate to get him firing on all cylinders as soon as possible.
Andoni Iraola urged to trust Bradley Barcola
Everton’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes that Iraola has to try and boost Barcola's confidence by keeping him on the pitch for the full 90 minutes.
The new arrival is yet to play the full 90 in any Premier League game so far this season, having been withdrawn in each of his last three league games.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, Wyness explained how the boss simply has to persist with the forward.
"Iraola's got to come out and stand up himself and kill the narrative. He needs to speak highly about him and say it's all coming," he said.
"It's all about handling the adoption curve of coming into the new league, and it's tough. I mean, look at the Man City game, that's not an easy game for a new player coming in after only a few games into the season.
"The Premier League's a tough cauldron for those foreign players, and they love the wages, but you know they've got to deliver, and you know the pressure from Liverpool fans is immense as well.
"Iraola's got to stick with him, and he can't start to give him only some minutes and start taking him off. He's got to say, look, you're in this for the next games, guaranteed. You've got plenty of time. Just settle down and do it.
"There's no doubt there's talent there, but you can see that he's just a little bit nervous and he's trying to over-impress. So that's going to be up to the manager to get the arm around the shoulder."
Liverpool missed out on Rayan Cherki
Former Everton scout Bryan King recently told Football Insider that he "knows for a fact" that Liverpool turned down the chance to sign Rayan Cherki in recent years.
The ex-recruitment man revealed that the Merseysiders instead opted to sign Florian Wirtz for £116m, over treble the fee that Manchester City splashed on Cherki.
Wirtz's form is under serious scrutiny at the moment, and King believes that the attacking midfielder is likely to end up back in Germany.
Liverpool fans are slowly losing patience with the attacking midfielder, who is still waiting for his first Premier League goal of the season.