Liverpool ready to sign £87m France star

Liverpool aren’t exactly coming off their finest campaign, but with Andoni Iraola now in charge, FSG believe they have found a solution that will lift Anfield back into the ascendancy.

It’s been a bleak season for the Reds, for a number of reasons, but it does now feel like they have emerged from the storm and can start working toward the title-challenging heights that the fanbase has become accustomed to over the past decade.

Having finished fifth in the Premier League, it goes without saying that Liverpool left a lot to be desired this year. However, Arne Slot has departed having secured Champions League football, and with a Premier League gold medal in his bag too.

He’s not the only one leaving. Ibrahima Konate and Andy Robertson depart at the end of their contracts, and Mohamed Salah has quit a year ahead of the culmination of his.

There’s a lot to sort out at Anfield.

Liverpool’s summer transfer priorities

With a £60m deal for Jeremy Jacquet agreed in January, Liverpool’s backline is more or less secure, albeit with Conor Bradley’s ongoing injury issues calling for a new right-back.

Up top, the biggest issues are found. Salah’s departure means a high-profile replacement is needed, and RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande is the top target, with Liverpool having opened discussions over a potential £87m move.

Diomande could be a transformative signing, but some would argue that Liverpool’s stuttering midfield represents a bigger issue, and one that sporting director Richard Hughes needs to fix.

According to Liverpool insider Asim Mahmoodthe club still view Paris Saint-Germain’s Warren Zaire-Emery as their dream target this summer, though there is an acceptance that it will be a difficult deal to pull off.

Last year, PSG responded to interest from Manchester United by transfer-listing Zaire-Emery at €100m (£87m). It’s not likely that that figure will have diminished following his role in Luis Enrique’s side’s latest round of silver-laden success.

Why Zaire-Emery could be a better signing than Diomande

Zaire-Emery is only 20 years old, but he has already been hailed as “one of the best midfielders in the world” by his agent Jorge Mendes.

He demonstrated across two legs against Liverpool in the Champions League this season that he has what it takes to thrive in the Premier League, a vicious blend of elegance, energy and defensive acumen.

Physical and imposing, especially for one so young, the France international would certainly mark an upgrade on Alexis Mac Allister in the middle of the Anfield park, potentially making an impact that would surpass even Diomande’s, should he leave Germany and join Liverpool’s frontline this summer.

In Ligue 1, the rising star completed 94% of his passes, putting him in the top bracket there. Moreover, he created chances and smacked long balls toward his surging teammates with regularity, underlining his enterprise and ambition.

It’s exactly the type of profile that Liverpool need, and it’s hard to look past him as being a potential superstar, someone who would even outshine Diomande, one of the season’s biggest success stories with Leipzig.

The 19-year-old Diomande is one of the most exciting young wingers in the world, growing into the kind of all-action attacker who could shape a title-winning period at Anfield.

Of course, both youngsters could make waves under Iraola’s wing at Anfield, but Liverpool need to make an instant turnaround after the summer break, and Zaire-Emery could be the difference-maker for a midfield that fell so heavily by the wayside under Slots’s management.

However, after only one season as a first-team regular for Leipzig, could Liverpool find themselves overspending? The weight of replacing Salah’s goals and presence in attack will be heavy indeed, and for all his quality, he only returned 13 goals and ten assists across all competitions this season.

Zaire-Emery is only one year his senior, but he has already cemented himself as an elite midfielder, part of a historic side. Whether Liverpool manage to snatch him from the Parisians remains to be seen, but there’s no question that, should they do so, he will be the signing of the summer.