Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has said French international Bradley Barcola needs time to adjust to the style of play in England.
Barcola joined Liverpool for a staggering £123 million fee but has struggled to find his rhythm under new manager Andoni Iraola.
However, Henry believes the 24-year-old will soon start delivering results for the Merseyside club with time.
"It’s not always easy when you’re used to a certain system and a way of playing, where everybody knows what’s happening at any time," Henry told Betway. "He just arrived in Liverpool; he doesn’t speak English, and it’s a different style of play with different intensity in the league. You can see that everyone who comes into Luis Enrique’s system shines – [Khvicha] Kvaratskhelia, [Ousmane] Dembele, [Desire] Doue, Barcola."
Drawing on his own move to England, Henry added: "I had to deal with it the same way, and then that little switch happened and I was more comfortable. You start to speak English, you can joke around in the dressing room, you’re a bit less shy and people start to know what you’re about.
"It’s not an easy place to start, and he didn’t ask for his price tag, but it’s on his back. We all know that one-v-one, he is deadly, and he has pace. The only thing he needs to work on is his finishing, but that’s normal. If you see my finishing when I was 19 or 20 compared to the end of my career, it was so different. I became so much more sure about my game."
Henry stressed that Barcola’s pedigree and hefty transfer fee mean patience will be thin. "With winning the Champions League back-to-back, playing for France, with the price tag and the quality that he has, people are not going to wait for him to become the finished article, so he’s going to have to deliver," the Frenchman warned. "There is going to be a level of expectation, and sometimes he is a bit raw in his finishing, but he creates a hell of a lot."
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