Liverpool transfer news: Cody Gakpo prediction made as new Bradley Barcola demand issued

Liverpool will sell Cody Gakpo for the right price this summer, but he will start against Newcastle United if Tottenham Hotspur do not stump up the required fee before then Emile Heskey has exclusively told Sports Mole.

Gakpo paid no attention to the speculation surrounding his future as he shone in Liverpool's 2-0 friendly win over Como at the weekend, scoring the Reds' first before setting up Jeremy Jacquet at Anfield.

The Dutchman produced a man-of-the-match performance at a time when Tottenham links are heightening, as Spurs have supposedly 'convinced' Gakpo to sign for them if a fee can be agreed with Liverpool.

However, the Lilywhites are yet to meet their Merseyside rivals' £60m valuation of Gakpo, who is currently Andoni Iraola's first-choice left-winger as the new Premier League season comes into view.

Heskey - who scored 60 goals and won six trophies with Liverpool - cannot see Gakpo losing his spot in the starting lineup amid the ongoing speculation, but he is expecting the attacker to depart as soon as Tottenham satisfy his former club's financial demands.

Emile Heskey makes Cody Gakpo Liverpool transfer prediction

"If the right money is put on the table, I believe he will go," Heskey said of Gakpo. "But he is in the squad for now, and he will be in the team, especially after a good performance.

"You do not put out players who are in good form. If he is in good form, you play him. Everyone has a price. If they trigger the right price, he will go."

Liverpool are under little pressure to sell Gakpo on the cheap thanks to his long-running contract until 2030, but a sale would boost their coffers for a mega-money pursuit of Paris Saint-Germain's Bradley Barcola.

The France international was included in the initial matchday squad for PSG's Super Cup loss to Lens on Sunday, but he was then omitted from the starting XI and substitutes bench, seen as a strong suggestion that his time at the Parc des Princes could soon be over.

Ibrahim Mbaye was also axed from the squad amid his own links with the Reds, and the teenager would prove a substantially cheaper addition than Barcola, valued at over £100m by PSG.

However, when asked whether Liverpool should pay over the odds for Barcola or consider a cut-price option in Mbaye, Heskey had no doubts.

Ibrahim Mbaye or Bradley Barcola: Who should Liverpool sign?

"I would love Barcola," Heskey added. "Someone who is ready-made to step in and do what is needed. He has played in a squad that plays the attacking style of football that we like, that we are accustomed to.

"I went to the PSG game away when we won, but we actually got battered. The aggressive pressing and style of play they did then is what we like. He is used to that.

"Someone who has played regular football, get him. But it is the price tags for everything. There is a price tag for everyone, and you have to hit that price tag. Are they realistic ones now? They are quite all over the place."

Liverpool are apparently ready to step up their interest in Barcola, who has no intention of extending his PSG contract beyond 2028.

Emile Heskey was speaking to Sports Mole on behalf of Premier League betting site BetWright.