Liverpool successfully avoid making £65m transfer MISTAKE

Liverpool are set to avoid making a £65m error that could've set them back quite significantly.

The lack of clarity when it comes to fair market value for players makes it really hard to not overpay.

It looked incredibly likely the Richard Hughes would go in for Antoine Semenyo at Bournemouth, reuniting the player with his former sporting director, except this time, they'd be on Merseyside.

However, it's now all but confirmed that Manchester City will be signing the Ghanaian and it's recently come to light how significant a result that is for Liverpool - they've avoided a mistake.

£65m for Semenyo would've been an error

The 25-year-old winger's release clause was not an unfair valuation of his talents, when you consider he's got 38 goals and 14 assists in all competitions since he arrived in the Premier League back in the 2022/23 campaign. He more than deserves a big move and £65m is quite reasonable.

However, the Reds were able to look back at their decision not to go for him with glee on Tuesday night when he struggled to make an impact for Bournemouth against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Across 90 minutes, he didn't create any chances, missed both of his two crosses, failed to accurately make 10 of his 24 passes, succeeded with none of his two long-balls, missed a big chance, and only won four of the 16 ground and aerial duels he was involved in, alongside committing the penalty that enabled Cole Palmer to draw the game back to 1-1 after 15 minutes.

It's understandable that Semenyo's head might have been elsewhere, and City fans will know that he's capable of performing to a far better level that he did. Last night was a blip in his season.

But a similar disaster happened against Aston Villa back in November, so it's clear that he can be really inconsistent at times if the opposition have done their homework and isolated him in the game.

Aside the doubts caused by final performance for the Cherries, there's another reason why Liverpool might have got away with one by opting against Semenyo, and that's RB Leipzig star Yan Diomande.

The 19-year-old winger from Ivory Coast has seven goals and three assists so far in his breakout campaign in Germany and he looks to be on a great trajectory to become a future world-beater.

According to Sky Sports, the €100m (£87m) valuation that's been placed on his head is inaccurate.

In their latest report, it's claimed that €60-€70m (£53m-£61m) are far more likely figures, which suddenly puts the refusal to sign Semenyo into context. Why sign a 25-year-old Premier League star when you can purchase the next big thing, who's only 19 and is potentially available for less money?

Whether the Reds decide to act on their interest in Diomande and whether it's reliable information that his fee is up to £30m less than initially understood, is all up in the air, but Liverpool can relax while Semenyo's talks with Manchester City wrap up, because his move could've been a mistake.

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