04 Aug 2026 15:13:31
Heard something on Diomande but I'm not too sure how true that actually is - apparently there are some problems with the photo-rights holders (different company to his agency) of him which blocked a transfer to any English club. They went to PSG after but fumbled it as they wanted too much.
Currently only Real are in for him but don't want to pay.
Leipzig want around €120Mio but Real only want to pay €100Mio as they know that no other club is competing with them.
But personal terms were or are agreed with LFC, PSG and Real.
As I said, I'm not itk or is it anything confirmed, just what I heard from someone I know personally.
04 Aug 2026 15:52:23
Maybe we can split his contract three ways and he can spend a third of the season at each of the clubs.
04 Aug 2026 16:00:25
This might explain why I heard there are issues with the Real deal. Interesting! Presume it'll get sorted still.
04 Aug 2026 16:50:26
Have to say I'm still hopeful of getting this done. Especially if it's true on Gakpo to Spurs. We need wingers, and him and Barcola with Munoz and Nghouma as back up would be excellent.
04 Aug 2026 16:50:56
John Barnes is God. Any updates, mate, on Diomande?
04 Aug 2026 19:06:13
Wouldn't go anywhere near Diomande now.
04 Aug 2026 19:31:34
You know me, @Red Jones, I've been consistent if nothing else when it comes to Diomande.
Nothing is off the table, if we don't want it to be. Real are stalling and if we really wanted, we could certainly go back to RBL and reinstate our interest, pay the money to all parties required for a quiet life and he would be a Liverpool player. Never say never, my friend, it is still possible. I just have a sneaky feeling we will pull it out of the bag at the last minute and sign him, I really do.
Liverpool are a conundrum sometimes.
Happy to throw 125m for Isak, who everyone (bar those with a fantasy football team mentality) could see had come off the boiler 6 months prior to the transfer, and was always going to struggle. A man also known to be injury prone.
Yet a dynamite right winger; granted with only 1 break out season - but clearly a player who could potentially excel as the main man after Mo, and we haggle over a couple of million.
I couldn't care less if his entourage were utter tits, or it took a few million to deal with the legality of his photo rights, and a few million more to cross his agents' palms, then to bang more up front to RBL; we messed about over what is essentially a few quid, because that's just what we do, with every transfer, and lose the player in most cases.
We messed about for months with a deal for Barcola costing over a 100m and he isn't even a player we need. Now, he would be perfect if we signed Diomande also.
And I think we will do just that.
04 Aug 2026 19:56:11
Thanks for the reply, mate. Also, if interest in Elliot is real, we could include him in any deal. Having both of them would really make the difference next season (Barcola and Diomande).
04 Aug 2026 21:42:45
Jeez, want nothing to do with Diomande at this stage. Way too many red flags.
04 Aug 2026 22:32:10
Total guess work, but can any of these other big clubs on the continent even afford these 100m transfers? Unless they can wheel a favorable payment schedule, I feel like these huge transfer fees belong to the Premier League clubs only.
04 Aug 2026 23:24:07
I think we need to stop paying 100m+ for players, man. Wasn't Hughes meant to be this guy that unearths gems for cheap?
Why do we never tap into the South American market like Real, Barca, Chelsea, even Bournemouth last season with Rayan?
Imagine buying Barcola, Diomande and the mystery marquee midfielder for 100m each or close to.
Spending most of the off-season and transfer window chasing complicated 100m+ deals. Did we not learn last season?
It's getting ridiculous now.
{Ed001's Note - we tried to sign Rayan before Bournemouth but he didn't want to join to be second fiddle to Mo, at the time.}
04 Aug 2026 23:28:12
Don't give it with RBL, play hardball with it, just like they play with everyone else.
05 Aug 2026 00:40:31
Huge issues with his agencies. As one of the ITKs pointed out early on, I believe it was Robbo or Carra, there is a whole messy tangled web of agents, contracts and promises involved with Diomande. Liverpool interest is long gone and has seemingly moved to Mbaye. Diomande cannot sign with an English club due to the lawsuits and the fact he has most of his contracts signed with the English FA (besides RocNation, his current agent).
Best to absolutely put the whole ordeal in the rear mirror, as talented as he is. We will not be entering that race again, and it's Madrid's issue to sort out.
05 Aug 2026 01:42:13
Hughes also did bring in Ndukwe, Ndiaye, and Adekoya. Young CBs who could potentially be gems. But the common consensus is that they are teenagers and we should still get established names since they can't be trusted. We can't have it both ways though. If we want to unearth gems, we need to play them in the team instead of farming them out on loan.
Ndukwe is out of our hands because of work permit stuff, however.
I have a feeling that if Rayan had joined us last Jan, we would still be asking for an RW to be brought in now because people will be saying we can't be relying on a teenager with only 6 months in the PL to be our starter.
04 Aug 2026 23:50:20
Gregarious - totally agree.
Ed1 - I did wonder about our approach to the transfer window which took a dramatic turn last summer. We obviously still looking for opportunities like Munoz on release clause etc, but generally it feels like we're always in the market for these crazy transfer fees. PSG allegedly bringing in Akliouche and Godts for the price of selling Barcola, seems like amazing business to me. But we seem to have moved away from doing those kinds of deals.
Interested in your thoughts on this strategy we seem to have or whether we have landed here partly due to the amount of money in PL and also our activity last summer.
{Ed001's Note - our strategy was based on Edwards wanting to prove he was the master of the transfer market and knew better than Klopp. There was no real thought to it or strategy, just arrogance.}