Yan Diomande has chosen NOT to move to Liverpool as his next club, as the Reds have turned their attention to a German under-19 winger.
Liverpool have been prioritising replacing Mohamed Salah this summer. After nine years of quality and trophies, the Egyptian is departing, and he takes with him 257 goals and 123 assists.
Diomande has been one of the main names on their list, and it was seeming like he was ready to move to Anfield, should RB Leipzig accept an offer from the Reds, but news has broken that will crush them.
Diomande wants PSG move
Indeed, transfer insider David Ornstein has revealed for The Athletic that Diomande wants PSG as his next club.
Per the insider, there are three main reasons that he’s chosen the French champions above Liverpool if he’s to move on this summer.
Ornstein states the Ivorian wants to play for Luis Enrique, wants the chance to consistently lift trophies and win a Ballon d’Or.
He seemingly feels PSG are the best club for him to achieve the latter two goals, and believes in the project there.
While Liverpool were willing to pay a sum of €100million (£86.8m) for Diomande, that remained below Leipzig’s valuation, and it remains to be seen whether PSG will match the €130million (£112.1m) that the German club want.
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Liverpool turn attention on El Mala
With Diomande not an option to Liverpool, the Premier League giants will have to look elsewhere to replace Salah, and it’s been reported German under-19 star Said El Mala is on their radar.
The Cologne star is seen as an exciting alternative to Diomande, and is valued far lower, at €50million (£43.1m).
TEAMtalk has previously been informed that Tottenham are keen on El Mala, and his representatives – his parents – want any interested club to sign his brother, too, which has thrown a spanner into the works in negotiations with some clubs, who only want the wide man and not his less effective brother.
Inter won’t pay Jones price
TEAMtalk has long been aware that Inter Milan are interested in signing Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones.
However, they have warned the Reds they are willing to walk away from negotiations if they don’t lower their asking price, as they simply are not willing to pay it.
Inter feel a valuation of £34million is unrealistic for a player in the final year of his contract, and their last offer was a fair way below that, at £21million.
They are willing to remain patient rather than being forced to overpay for a player whose price tag they do not feel represents a fair deal.
READ MORE: Man Utd, Liverpool moves for £60m-rated France int’l torched as star says YES to PSG switch