Former Liverpool defender Glen Johnson has hit back at claims from France World Cup winner Emmanuel Petit that the Reds paid over the odds for summer signing Bradley Barcola

Glen Johnson has hit back at claims from France World Cup winner Emmanuel Petit that Liverpool have overspent on 'overrated' summer acquisition Bradley Barcola.

The former Reds defender has thrown his support behind the winger following a mixed beginning to his Anfield stint.

Barcola toiled in an unaccustomed centre-forward position on Wednesday as Liverpool's perfect winning record in the Champions League league phase ended with a 3-2 loss to Fenerbahce in Istanbul. The France international had shone in his previous Champions League away fixture, bagging an impressive hat-trick in the 6-3 triumph at LASK.

However, those strikes remain the sole goals Barcola has managed in his 13 outings for the Reds following his blockbuster transfer from European champions Paris Saint-Germain on 31 August.

Earlier this month, former Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea midfielder Petit, who lifted the World Cup with France in 1998, stated: "£120m? I would never put that price tag on the table. We all know that in France.

'We know that he is a quality player, he could sometimes be great, but he doesn't have consistency during games. He was good most of the time with Paris because of the whole team behind him."

But Johnson, who made 200 appearances for Liverpool, scoring nine goals and creating 13 more after a £17.5m move from Portsmouth in June 2009, believes Barcola is.

He said: "I would probably have spent £60m or £70m, maximum. That's my opinion. It's becoming common now that English clubs are spending so much money on overrated players.;

However, Johnson, who turned out 200 times for Liverpool, netting nine goals and providing 13 assists following his switch from Portsmouth in June 2009, maintains that Barcola is "world class" and argues he shouldn't be assessed purely on his price tag.

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He said: "I don't think Barcola is overrated. I think he's world class. I've been a fan of his for a long time. I think he's brilliant.

"I think what Manu Petit is trying to say is that he wasn't worth that money. I think that's what he meant. There's no doubt about his talent, his ability and obviously fans have the right to think whether he's world class or not. That's up to them.

"But I think what Manu was actually meaning was the fact that there's some other players who are really good that are going for half the money. So I think he meant more of that, than actually being not as good as people say. Because that's two different things.

'You need the talent there to compete with each other. I was hoping Liverpool would sign him before. The financial stuff, that has nothing to do with us. We just want to see the best players at Liverpool and how they can get it done. And the best players will play. And the ones that aren't playing have to improve. It can only be a good level of competition.