Liverpool's Pursuit of Yan Diomande as Salah's Successor

Yan Diomande has made up his mind. He wants Anfield. He wants the shirt. He wants Mohamed Salah’s spot on the right of Liverpool’s attack.

Whether Liverpool can actually prise him out of RB Leipzig is another story entirely.

Liverpool’s chosen heir to Salah

Liverpool’s interest in Diomande is not new. The club have been tracking the 19-year-old Ivory Coast international for months, identifying him as the ideal long-term successor to Salah, who is expected to leave this summer.

Talks are already under way. According to sources close to TEAMtalk’s transfer insider Graeme Bailey, Liverpool have opened discussions with Diomande’s representatives and are working on the framework of a deal. Paris Saint-Germain are also circling, sensing an opportunity to move for one of Europe’s most exciting young wide forwards.

Yet the player’s preference is clear. As reported by The i Paper, Diomande wants Liverpool. He wants to step into Salah’s role, to become the next right-sided talisman at Anfield rather than just another star in PSG’s constellation.

That clarity of intention usually tilts a transfer. This one is being dragged in a different direction: the price.

A £120m problem

Liverpool and RB Leipzig are in direct talks, but they are staring at a huge gap in valuation. The i Paper reports that Leipzig want £120m for Diomande. German outlet Bild has gone even higher, suggesting the Bundesliga club could demand as much as €150m (£129.6m).

For Fenway Sports Group, this is the crux of the problem. They see Diomande as a major piece of Liverpool’s next attacking era, and new head coach Andoni Iraola is fully aligned with that view. He is understood to be firmly behind the push to bring the winger to Merseyside.

The numbers, though, are brutal. Matching Leipzig’s demands would mean one of the biggest outlays in Liverpool’s history, on a teenager who is still in the early stages of his top-level career. Even in a market where elite forwards routinely clear the £100m mark, that fee asks serious questions of any club’s recruitment strategy.

Liverpool want movement on the price. Leipzig, at least for now, are not blinking.

Leipzig dig in

Behind the scenes, Leipzig have taken a hard line. Bailey reports that the German club want to keep Diomande and are not actively looking to sell him this summer. Sources indicate the player is not agitating for a move either; he is open to staying put if Leipzig hold firm.

Leipzig’s plan is straightforward: keep the teenager for at least another season, hand him a new contract, and insert a release clause that protects his value while giving him a clear exit route in the future. It is a model the club know well and have used successfully with other rising stars.

From their perspective, Diomande is an asset still growing in both performance and price. From Liverpool’s, every week that passes without a breakthrough brings the Salah question closer to a cliff edge.

FSG’s dilemma

Inside Liverpool, there is alignment on the target but tension around the timing. Salah’s departure leaves a hole that cannot be patched with short-term fixes forever, and the club’s recruitment team have identified Diomande as the cleanest, most ambitious solution.

Iraola, newly in the job and tasked with refreshing an attack that has revolved around Salah for years, is said to be fully on board. He wants Diomande’s direct running, his one-v-one threat, his ability to stretch defences from the right. He sees a player who can grow into the role rather than merely survive it.

FSG, though, must balance that footballing logic with financial reality. Paying close to £120m–£130m for a teenager, even one of Diomande’s talent, would be a statement that reverberates far beyond this window. Refusing to go that high might mean watching their preferred Salah heir choose another path, or stay in Germany until the numbers shift.

For now, Liverpool are still at the table. Leipzig are still saying no. Diomande is still waiting.

At some point, something has to give. If it isn’t the price, Liverpool may be forced into a question they hoped they had already answered: where do you find another right-winger who can carry the weight of replacing Mo Salah?