Liverpool in position to sign star, days after deal's stunning collapse
Liverpool are in a good position to sign a star they've wanted for a long time. It comes days after a deal's stunning collapse.
There have been some dramatic moments in this transfer window so far. Liverpool were at the centre of one of them - when Yan Diomande, who looked destined for Anfield, suddenly decided on Paris Saint-Germain (before, even more dramatically, deciding on Real Madrid).
But there was another twist this week and it again featured a Diomande. Ousmane Diomande, the Sporting CP centre-back, looked absolutely nailed on to join Nottingham Forest, who have chased him all summer.
Virtually everything appeared to be in place, only for the deal to completely collapse this week. Mais Futebol reports that it's now off and Diomande may now move elsewhere.
There will certainly be interest. Sporting would accept €40m for the defender, as they did from Forest, and clubs all over Europe would be happy to pay that. One of which may be Liverpool.
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Journalist Sebastien Vidal reports that the Reds, who are in the market for a centre-back, have long been admirers of Diomande and could move for the player. They could certainly use a centre-back - things are so bad right now that Andoni Iraola's assistant, Tommy Elphick, stepped in to play the role during a training session recently.
The squad boasts a 35-year-old Virgil van Dijk as by far the most reliable option. Joe Gomez is injured, while Giovanni Leoni has ben out for nearly a year with a knee injury on debut. Then there's Jeremy Jacquet, a relatively unknown quantity who missed the back end of last season with a shoulder injury.
Both Jacquet and Leoni are very young players, too, while the experienced pair only have contracts for one more year. The future isn't very strong, in other words, and Liverpool could use a more senior option.
Diomande is barely that, admittedly, as he's only 22 but he's been playing senior football for four years. That's more than cane be said about Jacuquet and Leoni.
This is one to watch, then. Diomande is a very interesting and affordable option for Liverpool at a time when they could really use that.
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