£87m star would like to join Liverpool

Football is a game of peaks and valleys, but Liverpool will not want to revisit the dip of the 2025/26 season any time soon, so far removed from their lofty level the year before.

When Arne Slot waltzed into Anfield and led Jurgen Klopp’s team to a first Premier League title since 2020, he was lauded as one of the finest up-and-coming coaches in the world.

Now, one year later, he has sacked, with the Reds appointing Andoni Iraola following a miserable year.

It had been coming, but Liverpool now need to instigate a sharp turnaround ahead of the new season, and while Iraola brings an intense brand of attacking football, he can only do so much without FSG’s intervention, bringing over new signings.

FSG’s top target wants to join Liverpool

Iraola is going to make some changes at Liverpool, bringing back a punchy, high-octane flavour. He will need far more physicality and robustness in the middle of the park, but the Spaniard’s set-up also demands effective and energetic wingplay.

This effectively means that Liverpool need to nail replacing Mohamed Salah this summer. The Egyptian King flattered to deceive across Slot’s second year, and though his decision to end his stay one year ahead of schedule came as a shock, there’s no question that Liverpool need to make improvements down their right side.

That’s where Yan Diomande comes in. According to transfer insider Ben Jacobs, speaking on GIVEMESPORT’s Market Madness podcast, the RB Leipzig winger is now open to joining the Anfield side this summer, despite rival interest from the indomitable force that is Paris Saint-Germain.

Leipzig do not want to sell, and are holding out for a nine-digit, should Diomande clearly intimate his desire to move to the Premier League or France. Whereas before Diomande’s price tag stood at €100m (£87m), they now want to see negotiations open at that price, meaning the price could rise much higher.

Jacobs said: “Liverpool have got a great relationship with the agency of Diomande and also Leipzig too. So they’re one of the leading contenders, and I would say that Diomande is Liverpool’s top choice, the number one choice and they’ve made progress on the player side, so they’re relatively optimistic within Liverpool that Diomande would like to join, even though the player did an interview, I think, only a few weeks ago, where he spoke of his love for PSG.”

Liverpool need to complete this superstar signing, landing a prodigious talent who even has something Jude Bellingham-esque about him.

Why Diomande can be Liverpool’s own Bellingham

Diomande is only 19 years old, and yet he has already established himself as one of the most exciting and in-demand wingers across Europe.

The Ivory Coast international is tipped to make a big impression at the World Cup, and Liverpool will hope to tie up negotiations before making his name known to the wider world, thus inflating his price tag – and then some.

Whether Liverpool manage to strike a deal and beat PSG’s own advances remains to be seen, but if they do, they could avenge the failed bid for Bellingham in 2023, pulling out of the race for Borussia Dortmund’s prodigious talent as Real Madrid homed in.

Diomande and Bellingham are not the same, but the Leipzig starlet has matched England’s star attacking midfielder in enjoying an age-belying rise to prominence in the Bundesliga, with journalist Bence Bocsak saying, “Whatever it costs, he’s a superstar. Worth every penny.”

Liverpool found alternative means to counter their midfield crisis of 2023, but Bellingham certainly would have been an upgrade on the likes of Jordan Henderson and James Milner. Now, the same is true for Diomande, far ahead of Salah at the end of his illustrious Liverpool journey.

Diomande would clearly offer more than Salah down the right flank. The Egyptian King fell off a proverbial cliff during Slot’s season in charge, ageing and at odds with the Dutchman’s dysfunctional system. Salah voiced his concerns over the style of football Liverpool had drifted toward, and in fairness, he has received his wish now that Iraola’s in charge.

Liverpool might not have signed Bellingham way back when, but if they land Diomande, they would secure for themselves a superstar signing at PSG’s expense. It would start the Iraola era off to a flyer, potentially firing Liverpool right back to the title contention the fans have come to expect over the past decade.