Liverpool set to open club-to-club talks to sign £100m star

When the curtain came down on Arne Slot‘s Liverpool tenure, the overriding feeling at Anfield was one of relief.

Too much went wrong this season; too many issues conspired against Slot, who led Liverpool to their first Premier League title after the Jurgen Klopp era. He got a musical tune out of the squad that year, then conducted himself superlatively during the events of last summer, but toxicity levels spilled over at the end of 2025/26, and FSG were forced to make a change.

Liverpool executives are aware of the importance of strengthening across the park this summer. Andoni Iraola is in place as Slot’s successor, and his three seasons with Bournemouth suggest that Liverpool will return to a more intense and vertical style of football. How Iraola caters to a team with more possession-based needs remains to be seen, though.

Midfielders are needed, and among FSG football chief Michael Edwards and sporting director Richard Hughes’ priorities this summer, but Mohamed Salah still needs replacing out on the right wing.

Liverpool confident they will sign £100m+ star

Salah showed against Belgium at the World Cup on Monday evening that he still has it. Not that Liverpool supporters were in any doubt that the Egyptian King, who turned 34 yesterday, still has quality in his bag.

Salah is leaving, though, and Liverpool need to find someone else to work magic down the right wing. In fact, Liverpool need a few forwards, and Darwin Nunez has emerged as a surprise contender for an attacking Anfield berth.

Notorious Nunez left Liverpool last summer with many regrets over his output on Merseyside. He did leave as a Premier League champion, though, and while the Reds need a few forwards, re-signing him could be foolish.

Instead, Liverpool must maintain their bid for RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande. According to TEAMtalk, FSG are set to open official club-to-club talks for the Ivory Coast star, confident that they will get a deal done.

Leipzig want a deal in excess of £100m, and even though Paris Saint-Germain are rivalling Liverpool in a bid for the 19-year-old, the Reds are ready to offer a bigger wage package to secure a marquee signing at the start of the Iraola era.

Negotiations are likely to start in the £87m range but will likely exceed £100m.

Why Diomande would be a better signing than Nunez

Liverpool know Nunez as someone might know an old pair of boots that no longer fit. The memories are warm, but to try and put it back on would be uncomfortable and ill-judged.

With Hugo Ekitike unlikely to return from injury until the end of 2026, Liverpool could do with a back-up striker for Alexander Isak, but Nunez is not the answer. Diomande has the capacity to star as a focal goalscorer, already hailed for having “the finishing ability of Sadio Mane” by The Redmen TV’s Dan Clubbe.

He keeps flying over the hurdles in front of him. Diomande scored 13 goals and supplied ten assists across all competitions for Leipzig, and now he’s starring for Ivory Coast at the World Cup, the main man as his nation defeated Ecuador 1-0 in their opener at the weekend.

This is the man to go for. While nothing is ever certain in football, he is physical and robust, attributes which firmly underpin his output.

Let’s not forget, Liverpool have already forked out an initial £64m fee on Nunez in the past, signing Benfica’s young star and failing to make it work in the Premier League.

Nunez only scored 25 goals in the Premier League across three seasons, and he missed 55 big chances, speaking of some pretty fundamental finishing problems that would have an adverse effect on this Liverpool side – a Liverpool side who, of course, are working to eradicate such problems, having plagued them throughout Slot’s second season.

For those who watched Ivory Coast in action on Monday, Diomande looked somewhat profligate. He zipped up the right channel and gave Arsenal defender Piero Hincapie a torrid time, but he was wasteful in front of goal.

That said, Diomande had an xG of 7.14 in the Bundesliga this year, and he scored 12 goals. That’s a significant overperformance, one which suggests he has the mark of a natural-born goalscorer.

While Nunez is a popular player among the Liverpool persuasion, signing him again would not be a proactive and progressive move.

Instead, priority must be placed on getting a deal for Diomande done, then moving for another nuanced forward who can eclipse Nunez’s imapct at the club.