Yan Diomande is linked with a move to Liverpool to replace Mohamed Salah
Yan Diomande stands out as Liverpool‘s primary target to replace Mohamed Salah, and it’s easy to see why. The 19-year-old Ivorian winger moved to RB Leipzig from Leganes for a mere £18m last summer and hit the ground running in the Bundesliga, bagging 12 goals and 7 assists in 31 games. These are the kind of stats you’d expect from a veteran, not a teenager just getting used to life in European football.
What makes him so difficult to ignore?
Diomande is comfortable on either flank and, more importantly, is truly two-footed. This gives him the freedom to cut inside for a shot, whip in-swinging crosses, or sprint to the byline to fire low, hard balls into the box. That kind of flexibility is rare for a wide attacker at his age.
He’s averaging 1.03 goal involvements every game, which puts him in the top 20 Bundesliga attackers for goal contributions this season. Outside of his output in the final third, his work rate is massive; he clocked 263 kilometres across 31 matches during the 2025–26 campaign.
The weaknesses Liverpool cannot ignore
However, Diomande still has some obvious flaws. His passing accuracy is only 76.85%, ranking him 218th in the league. That’s a number that might worry Arne Slot, given his system relies on keeping the ball moving quickly and accurately.
He’s also still raw when it comes to facing top-tier defences, having only played at this level for a single season. Considering Diomande was playing in the Spanish fifth tier with Leganes’ B team not long ago, how he’ll handle the sheer physicality of the Premier League is still a major question mark.
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The transfer picture going into summer
Leipzig’s hierarchy is keen to tie him down to a new deal and keep him for one more year, which makes things a lot harder for Liverpool. RB Leipzig are holding out for more than €100 million, and while there have been solid talks with his team at Roc Nation, there’s no club-to-club agreement in place yet.
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That said, Diomande has reportedly called a move to Liverpool his “dream,” which could carry some importance. Ultimately, Yan Diomande is both the most thrilling and the most complex deal Liverpool could try to pull off this summer.
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