Liverpool Targets Yan Diomande as Salah Replacement

Liverpool’s search for a new right-sided star after Mohamed Salah’s exit has taken a familiar twist: the player they want now wants them.

RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande is understood to be prioritising a move to Anfield, with Liverpool reporter James William claiming the 19-year-old has been “convinced by the project” under Andoni Iraola and is eager to slot into the new manager’s plans.

That alone tells you where Liverpool are pitching themselves this summer. No rebuild in the shadows. They want the brightest young wide forward on the market, and they’re going head-to-head with Paris Saint-Germain to get him.

Diomande’s rise and Liverpool’s need

Liverpool’s need is obvious. Salah has gone. The right flank, for so long the most predictable part of their team sheet, is now the biggest question mark. Iraola’s system demands wingers who can run, press, and break lines off the dribble. Diomande ticks every box.

His numbers for Leipzig last season were the sort that make recruitment departments lean forward in their chairs: 12 goals and 8 assists in 33 Bundesliga appearances during a breakout campaign. For a teenager, those are not “promising” figures. They are elite.

He carried that form onto the international stage too, shining for Ivory Coast on his World Cup debut against Ecuador. The stage got bigger, the performance didn’t shrink. That matters to clubs like Liverpool, who are trying to sign players for Champions League nights, not just highlight reels.

Reports earlier in the week suggested Liverpool were “pushing” to get the deal done, with Ivory Coast’s manager telling reporters he had heard the winger was heading for Anfield this summer. Now the suggestion is that Diomande himself is leaning that way, placing Liverpool at the front of his queue.

In a market where players often wait for the biggest wage packet, a 19-year-old choosing project over pay packet is exactly the kind of storyline Liverpool want attached to their reset.

PSG’s pull – and the Barcola angle

The story, though, is not straightforward. It rarely is when PSG are involved.

Gabby Agbonlahor, speaking on talkSPORT, expects the French champions to win the race for Diomande despite Liverpool’s progress. His reasoning is simple: when a 19-year-old posts this level of output, the price and the pressure both explode.

“I know he’s not proven amazingly yet but last season Diomande scored 12 goals and had nine assists in the league for Leipzig, he’s 19 years of age,” Agbonlahor said, highlighting the scale of his impact. Across the campaign, Diomande racked up 118 successful dribbles – 50 more than any other player – and, as Agbonlahor put it, “made Hincapie look ordinary” on the big stage, twisting the defender “left, right and centre.”

That kind of one‑v‑one dominance is precisely what PSG crave as they reshape their attack. Agbonlahor believes that form, combined with PSG’s current trajectory, will prove decisive.

“I think he goes to PSG because of the way they’re performing at the moment,” he said, before suggesting that the French club’s strength in wide areas would open a different door for Liverpool. With Diomande in Paris, he expects PSG to be willing to cash in on Bradley Barcola, paving the way for the 21-year-old to head to Anfield.

Barcola, rated at around £80m, would represent a different type of signing. Less explosive in front of goal, more erratic in his finishing, but still a high‑ceiling wide forward. Agbonlahor was blunt in his assessment: Diomande, in his view, “would 100 per cent get straight in the team and it looks like he would score more goals than Barcola, he likes to miss a lot of chances.”

The message was clear: PSG will want the 19-year-old; Liverpool will end up with one of the two.

High stakes on the wing

For Liverpool, this is about more than just one transfer. They are coming off a disappointing 2025/26 campaign, one that has sharpened the need for smart, decisive work in several positions. The wide areas, stripped of Salah’s guarantee of goals and availability, sit at the top of that list.

Choosing between Diomande and a possible Barcola opportunity is not just a question of taste. It is a question of risk, timing, and budget. Agbonlahor drew a parallel with Jadon Sancho’s move to Manchester United, a £75m gamble that never paid off. The warning is obvious: pay huge money for a young winger, and if it doesn’t click, the fallout is brutal.

Liverpool know that better than most. Their recruitment over the last decade has thrived when they’ve backed the right profile at the right moment. Now they stand in a familiar place: a coveted 19-year-old wants their project, PSG are circling, and the market is waiting to see who blinks first.

One way or another, Iraola is likely to walk into next season with a marquee winger on his right. The only question is whether Anfield will be roaring for Yan Diomande or learning to live with Bradley Barcola.