Liverpool have been linked with a number of wingers ahead of the summer transfer window - but Yan Diomande stands out.
Liverpool might have just about scraped into the Champions League places thanks to a final-day draw against Brentford, but there is an awful lot to fix and refine this summer. Most of the squad seemingly needs an overhaul in spite of record-breaking spending at the start of the season – and the signing of a new winger is probably the single biggest priority.
It was no real shock, then, to see the rumour mill go into overdrive within hours of Sunday’s final whistle. The Times and The Guardian both reported that Anthony Gordon and Bradley Barcola were on Liverpool’s shopping list, for instance, while plenty of stories also connected the club with a bid for Jarrod Bowen following West Ham’s relegation – but the one name which features in every inch of every gossip column is RB Leipzig wonderkid Yan Diomande.
Any deal for Diomande would make him one of the most expensive teenagers in the history of the sport, and with just one season of regular first-team football to his name it would represent a staggering gamble. So would a move for the Ivorian forward be the right kind of risk for Liverpool – and how likely is it that it actually happens?
Why Yan Diomande is precisely what Liverpool need to get back to their best
The risk factor in signing Diomande is plainly enormous. His release clause is set at €100m (£86m) and that’s not money that Liverpool can afford to throw away – and Diomande is so young, and with such a short CV, that there is always the possibility that his superb debut season at Leipzig turns out to be a flash in the pan.
Players like Gordon and Barcola wouldn’t be cheap either, but have a lengthier track record of proven production at the highest level and plenty of years left in the tank. Bowen is a little older but would likely be much cheaper and is undeniably dangerous around the opposing box. All three would be pretty safe signings.
Of course, they’re also players who answer different questions. Mohamed Salah is set to leave on a free transfer and needs to be replaced, while left wing has become an issue after the club failed to adequately replace Luis Díaz last summer. Rio Ngumoha has immense potential but has much yet to learn, and the club can’t lean on his talent too hard.
Gordon and Barcola are left wingers who could solve one problem, Bowen a right inside forward who would perhaps provide resolution to the other. A part of the beauty of Diomande, however, is that he can be both at the same time.
The Ivorian is notionally right-footed but has such a skilful touch on his left and has scored so many perfectly-placed finishes with his ‘wrong’ boot that he can fairly be described as genuinely two-footed, and while he’s mostly played on the right for Leipzig he’s clearly comfortable on the left as well. He’s versatile enough to develop into whichever kind of winger Liverpool feel they need the most.
And while he remains a developmental player at 19, he’s already scoring goals at a rate that his apparent rivals for a role at Anfield would be more than happy with: His 13 goals in all competitions this season is more than Bowen managed, level with Barcola despite playing 10 fewer games, and behind only Gordon who also played far more football.
Diomande’s scoring record is even more remarkable considering that he hasn’t even had all that many touches in the opposing penalty area – he has generally operated in quite a wide role for Leipzig, but has been astonishingly efficient when he comes inside. His 12 Bundeliga goals over the last year came from just 7.14xG and the precision and composure with which he has scored most of them is remarkable at such a young age. He looks like a true number nine with the ball at his feet around the six-yard box and a flying natural winger when he’s closer to the touchline.
Diomande simply doesn’t seem to have many weaknesses. He’s a non-factor in the air and his crossing could be rather more precise, but his rapid change of pace, exceptional control and quick feet and incisive passing make those mild drawbacks irrelevant. If Liverpool signed Gordon, Barcola or Bowen they would be signing a fine player, but one who will never be as good as Salah. Diomande might well hit the same kind of heights.
Signing him would be a gamble, but he is the only player with whom Liverpool have been seriously linked – a deal for Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise is immensely improbable – who has the potential to give the club the same injection of creativity and threat that Salah once did. At 19, he looked like one of the best players in Germany on his way to 20 combined goals and assists. It isn’t shooting for the moon when they’re halfway there already.
In spending huge sums of Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz last summer, Liverpool showed an immense amount of ambition and a willingness to throw money at truly elite talent. It didn’t work out first time around, admittedly, but Diomande is in the same bracket as a player like Wirtz – immensely special and with a ceiling higher than almost anyone else on the market. If, indeed, he actually is on the market…
Will Diomande leave RB Leipzig this summer?
Prior to the renewal of the rumours linking Diomande with a move to Liverpool, it had been reported that he intended to stay at Leipzig for another season – but the comments he made to German magazine Kicker which created that assumption don’t seem to shut down the idea of a transfer completely.
When asked if he would stay with his current side he answered “yes” but added "I'm not thinking about that at the moment. I'm under contract in Leipzig and I enjoy playing here. But nobody knows what will happen after that. Everyone has ambitions, including me. My dream is to play at the highest level possible."
Hardly the comments of a player who expects to stay at Leipzig for the foreseeable future, and even if he gave a one-word commitment of sorts to the his club for next season, it’s not exactly a binding agreement – and it’s plain that he intends to move to a bigger team eventually.
Diomande is under contract until 2030 and Leipzig may insist that his enormous release clause is paid in full if any club wants to take him off their hands – a fee which would make him the third most expensive teenager in history behind Kylian Mbappé and João Félix, players whose careers offer an insight into both the best case scenario of such a move and the potential downside. Félix, too, looked special after his first full season.
The Times’ Paul Joyce suggested that Liverpool believe there could be some chance of negotiating a lower fee if they are indeed prepared to take the chance that Diomande is more Mbappé than Félix, but the price tag would still be massive.
Still, for all the noises Diomande is making suggesting that he might stay and although the economics of a deal would be eye-watering, the strength of the links between Liverpool and the winger are substantial. A number of reliable media outlets believe he is a genuine transfer target. The odds that Liverpool make an offer look high, as are the odds that they can make an appealing contract offer to the player. There’s only so much loyalty that can be expected from a player who’s only been at Leipzig for a year, after all.
There may yet be competition for his signature – Bayern Munich are known to be admirers as well, although they seem more likely to sign Gordon as it stands – but Liverpool appear to be positioning themselves to make a deal happen, and Diomande certainly hasn’t closed the door entirely. Don’t be surprised if this is a gamble that Arne Slot’s side take this summer.
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