Liverpool begin work to sign the next Mane for £60m

Liverpool have a lot to prove next season, and they are going to have to craft a comeback without Mohamed Salah.

When Liverpool meet Newcastle United at St. James’ Park on the first matchweek of the Premier League season, Salah will not be there to get his side up and running.

The Egyptian has scored more opening-day goals than any other player in Premier League history, and he contributed toward many strikes across his illustrious nine-year career on Merseyside, now a free agent and expected to resolve his future after his nation’s participation at the World Cup.

Salah, 34, gave everything to Anfield, and replacing him is not going to be easy (an understatement). However, it is the task assigned to sporting director Richard Hughes, who has found the perfect successor in RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande.

Liverpool begin work on Diomande alternative

Diomande, 19, is the talk of the town after an exceptional year in the German Bundesliga. He has carried his form out onto the international stage, thriving for Ivory Coast in their opening World Cup fixture against Ecuador.

Word on the street is that Liverpool are frontrunners, having tabled an opening bid worth around 100m (£87m). The Germans knocked that one back, but Liverpool would have known this would happen, and are determined to land thius prodigious teenager, viewed as the perfect man to replace Salah on the right wing.

But nothing is certain in football. Paris Saint-Germain are also hot on his trail, and you cannot discount the chance of him remaining with Leipzig next season.

Sporting director Richard Hughes has a number of alternatives lined up, with transfer reporter Ben Jacobs revealing that Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh has been added to the summer shortlist, suggesting that work has already been carried out regarding a potential move.

Minteh has been on Liverpool’s radar for a while, and it is anticipated that it will cost more than £60m to take him away from the south coast this summer.

Why Minteh could be better than Diomande for Liverpool

Minteh would be the latest star with a connection to Newcastle United to join Liverpool in recent years, with FSG recently wrapping up a £34.5m move for Osasuna winger Victor Munoz, who for all the world looked bound for Tyneside.

While Minteh never actually played for the Magpies, he was on their books before joining Brighton for £30m in 2024, and he has since grown into one of the Premier League’s most dangerous wingers, scoring ten goals and supplying nine assists for his outfit.

One scout believes that Minteh “can reach Sadio Mane[‘s] level” in the Premier League, with his pace and natural instinct in front of goal offering an echo of Anfield’s one-time Senegalese sensation.

Some might point toward Diomande’s absurd start to life in the Bundesliga and argue that he has already surpassed Minteh, but how many times have we seen young and exciting talents fall by the wayside when jumping over to the Premier League?

Florian Wirtz is one of the most talented playmakers in the world, but he did not enjoy a standout campaign for Liverpool last season after joining from Bayer Leverkusen for £116m. Diomande might suffer a similar fate, and the importance of effectively replacing Salah calls for an instant impact, something Minteh could provide after two years of hard graft at the AMEX.

Diomande might appear the more clinical man, more robust and active when on the ball, but you are afforded less time when in the Premier League, suffocated by hardy defenders, consumed by an intensity that other divisions fail to sustain.

That’s not to say that the Ivorian wouldn’t be a success. For more than £100m, you’d hope so. However, Minteh could represent shrewd business for a £60m fee, and his may well be the signature that Liverpool should pursue.

Liverpool are preparing for a new era under Andoni Iraola, and the intensity and edge that Minteh would provide could make a real difference for the Reds next year as they purr into life once again.