Liverpool's Struggles as PSG Targets Diomande and Akliouche

Paris Saint-Germain have not just beaten Liverpool to one headline target. They are threatening to rip up the Reds’ attacking blueprint before it is even drawn.

First came the blow over Yan Diomande. Now Maghnes Akliouche is edging the same way.

According to reports in France, Akliouche has given the green light to a move from Monaco to PSG, with talks already under way over a deal for the 24-year-old attacking midfielder. Liverpool had tracked him for a long time, seeing his creativity and versatility as a fit for their next evolution in the final third. PSG have moved faster. And with more force.

That alone would sting. But it drops into a wider picture that is becoming hard to ignore on Merseyside.

Diomande turns towards Paris

Diomande was supposed to be the statement. The £100m-level swing at the market that said Liverpool could still punch with Europe’s heaviest hitters.

Instead, the 19-year-old RB Leipzig winger now looks set to become the latest jewel in Paris.

RMC Sport first reported that PSG were primed, waiting only for Diomande to signal he wanted the move. That signal has arrived. David Ornstein of The Athletic, reporting from the World Cup, revealed that the Ivory Coast international has chosen PSG as his preferred destination if he leaves Leipzig this summer.

The reasoning is clear enough. Diomande, under contract until 2030 after joining from Leganes last year, is said to believe in the PSG project under Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Luis Campos, and wants to play for Luis Enrique. He sees Paris as the quickest route to a life spent chasing trophies and, potentially, a Ballon d’Or.

Liverpool were willing to go big. A package close to €100m was on the table. Leipzig pushed back, holding out for around €130m and trying to extend his deal. PSG, crucially, can live in that financial neighbourhood.

RMC now report that Diomande has agreed a five-year contract with PSG, negotiated via Roc Nation Sport. The French champions will open talks with Leipzig over the fee, intent on finding “common ground” without, in their words, “going crazy” – a nod to the more disciplined line they claim to have drawn over the past year.

Leipzig’s asking price sits around €130m. PSG do not want to reach that figure. The gap remains, but the direction of travel is obvious.

For Liverpool, the reality bites: the winger earmarked as a potential Mohamed Salah heir is leaning hard towards Paris.

No sugarcoating the Salah problem

This is not a theoretical issue at Anfield. Salah will need replacing. That forward line needs fresh edge, fresh goals, fresh fear.

Diomande ticked almost every box. Age, profile, ceiling. Now, unless Liverpool decide to test PSG’s resolve and Leipzig’s patience with an enormous bid, he is likely gone.

There is no dressing it up. Missing out on their top attacking target is a blow for Liverpool at a moment when the club is trying to retool for another cycle.

The human side of that transition is never far from the surface. Jurgen Klopp, now out of the Anfield dugout but still woven into the club’s recent history, spoke openly to ESPN about his relationship with Salah, a partnership that once carried Liverpool to the summit of Europe and England.

“We are friends now,” Klopp said. “So how I saw it with my players, I always said it, I want to be the friend of my players. I cannot be their best friend.

“While you're working together, players sometimes think I'm not even their friend because I have to make some decisions they don't like. But the good thing is it's all past ... The strongest thing in life is good memories.

“They are stronger than pretty much anything else. And right now we share them and so we are friends and now he's at the World Cup.”

The memories are rich. The future, though, demands a new plan.

Alternative targets and a restless market

With Diomande drifting towards Paris and Akliouche likely to follow, Liverpool’s recruitment team are already staring at the next names on the board.

PSG’s own winger Bradley Barcola is one. Fabrizio Romano has repeatedly underlined Liverpool’s admiration for the Frenchman, reminding his audience that Barcola has been on their radar since the summer of 2025 and remains firmly on the shortlist for 2026.

Romano insists the situation is “still open” despite multiple French sources insisting Barcola is staying put. PSG have not yet given the green light to a sale, but there is movement around the player. If Diomande arrives, that movement could accelerate. Liverpool will be ready if it does.

Yankuba Minteh of Brighton, Cologne’s Said El Mala and Lille’s Matias Fernandez-Pardo, who is also on Aston Villa’s list, are all under consideration as well. None carry Diomande’s current aura, but each offers pace, direct running and upside.

El Mala, in particular, may become a live opportunity. The 19-year-old winger looked set to join Brentford earlier this year before turning the move down in anticipation of stronger interest. That interest has not materialised as Cologne expected.

Reports in Germany suggest Cologne are now nervous about the lack of serious bidders. They still want around £40m for the teenager, who hit 13 goals and five assists in 34 Bundesliga games last season, hoping to reinvest the cash. Liverpool and Newcastle have both been linked before and remain in the conversation. If Cologne’s anxiety deepens, the price might soften. That is the kind of opening a smart club exploits.

World Cup shop window

While the transfer chess plays out, the World Cup continues to reshape reputations and shortlists in real time.

Bournemouth winger Rayan, strongly linked with Liverpool and previously signed by Andoni Iraola in January, is expected to feature again for Brazil when they face Japan in Houston on Monday night in the round of 32. He started in the 3-0 win over Scotland in place of the injured Raphinha and could keep his spot with the Barcelona man still a doubt.

Rayan carries a £130m release clause that activates next January, though clubs could try to negotiate outside that framework. Liverpool are watching. So are others. Every sprint, every dribble in Houston will be logged.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Felix Nmecha is trying to wrestle back his own momentum. The Borussia Dortmund midfielder burst into the World Cup with a dazzling start for Germany, then faltered badly in a 2-1 defeat to Ecuador. He faces Paraguay at Gillette Stadium on Monday night, needing a response.

Liverpool have been monitoring him, but they are not alone. Manchester United are heavily interested. One more big performance and the queue grows longer. One more flat one and the narrative shifts again. This is the brutal speed of a World Cup shop window.

Newcastle, Bruno and the ripple effect

The market’s dominoes are not confined to wingers. In midfield, Newcastle are scrambling to lock down Bruno Guimaraes amid rising noise around his future.

The Brazil international, currently at the World Cup, has attracted interest from several elite clubs, Liverpool among them. Arsenal have already had a £55m bid knocked back. Newcastle’s response has been to prepare a new deal that would make Guimaraes the highest-paid player in the club’s history at around £200,000 a week.

There is, however, a release clause. It is understood the 26-year-old can leave for £60m after Newcastle missed out on Champions League qualification. That figure, in this market, is a flashing light for any side looking to rebuild a midfield with title ambitions.

If Guimaraes moves, someone else misses out. If he stays, attention turns more urgently to the next tier of options. Liverpool are involved in that equation either way.

Spurs push for Gakpo as Liverpool watch on

Even in north London, Liverpool’s name hovers at the edge of conversations.

Former Tottenham full-back Alan Hutton has urged Spurs to go hard for Cody Gakpo, a player long admired at Anfield. Speaking to Betarades, Hutton argued that Gakpo would solve a persistent problem in Tottenham’s wide areas, especially given recent injuries to Odobert, Kudus and Kulusevski.

He pointed to Gakpo’s ability to score from the flanks, supply strikers like Solanke and Richarlison and also operate through the middle when required. That flexibility, plus his experience and winning mentality, makes him, in Hutton’s view, exactly the type of signing Spurs need after two underwhelming seasons.

If Tottenham move decisively, another profile that once sat neatly in Liverpool’s lane may disappear from it.

Paris turns the screw

Back in France, the central drama remains Diomande.

Sky Sports News report that the winger prefers a move to the Parc des Princes and already has a five-year agreement in place. PSG and Leipzig still need to find a fee, and there is always room in football for a late twist. Liverpool could, in theory, try to blow Paris out of the water with an enormous offer.

But this is PSG. Back-to-back Champions League winners. Champions of Europe with a project Diomande believes will carry him to the very top of the game.

For Liverpool, the question is stark. Do they chase the most desirable name on the market into a bidding war they may not win, or pivot quickly and aggressively to the next wave of targets before those doors close too?

The answer will shape not just this window, but the attack that walks out at Anfield when Salah is no longer on the teamsheet.