Liverpool Target Yan Diomande to Replace Mohamed Salah
Liverpool are not just in the race for Yan Diomande. They are trying to run PSG off the road.
The Premier League club have zeroed in on the 19-year-old RB Leipzig and Ivory Coast winger as the long-term successor to Mohamed Salah, and they are acting like a club that has made up its mind. Money on the table. A clear role in the team. A manager in Andoni Iraola whose football is built for a winger who lives for the one-v-one.
Diomande has already given the wider world a taste of what Liverpool see. In Ivory Coast’s World Cup opener against Ecuador, he went after Arsenal defender Piero Hincapie and tore into him repeatedly, showcasing the direct, fearless dribbling that has made him one of the most dangerous wide players of his age anywhere in the game.
Leipzig, predictably, are digging in. The Bundesliga club do not want to sell and have set the bar sky-high, with a valuation in the region of €130m (£112m). They may yet have to tolerate the idea of cashing in if bids reach that level, and Liverpool have already opened club-to-club talks, as revealed by David Ornstein.
The complication is PSG. The French champions are firmly in the hunt and have been tracking Diomande as part of their own next-generation rebuild. But this is not a level financial playing field. According to Fabrizio Romano, Liverpool are prepared to go heavier on the contract side, putting what he described as “important money” in front of the teenager to bring him to Anfield.
The pressure on PSG is not just about numbers. It is about space.
Romano has outlined a second, structural advantage for Liverpool: PSG do not currently have room for Diomande unless Bradley Barcola leaves. The French club are waiting to see whether a suitable offer arrives for Barcola and, crucially, are in no rush to sell him. Without that domino falling, their pursuit of Diomande is stuck in the starting blocks.
“If the right bid arrives for Barcola,” Romano explained, PSG could move more decisively for Diomande. If it does not, they may simply carry on with what they have. That uncertainty gives Liverpool time and leverage.
Behind the scenes, Liverpool are pushing hard. They know PSG remain very keen on the Leipzig winger, but as it stands, the Paris club are offering less. The choice for Diomande may soon come down to a straight contrast: a Liverpool project that has carved out a clear path for him, both financially and on the pitch, against a PSG plan that depends on someone else leaving first.
For a 19-year-old who already looks ready to torment full-backs at the highest level, the next step will shape the next decade of his career. Liverpool are doing everything they can to make sure that step lands on Merseyside.
