PSG's Ambitious Moves Impact Liverpool's Transfer Plans
Paris Saint-Germain are moving through this transfer window like a club determined to own the next decade of European football – and Liverpool are feeling the impact.
First Yan Diomande. Now Maghnes Akliouche.
Two of the brightest World Cup talents on the market, both long admired at Anfield, both seemingly bending towards the Parc des Princes.
PSG flex, Liverpool flinch
Word first emerged from France that Akliouche, Monaco’s gifted 24-year-old attacking midfielder, has given the green light to a move across the country. PSG are already in talks with Monaco, according to TEAMtalk, trying to thrash out a deal before rival clubs can properly react.
Liverpool have tracked Akliouche for some time. They liked the profile: creative, versatile, entering his prime. But as PSG push hard early in the window, the Reds again look like the club watching the heavyweight walk off with the prize.
The bigger blow, though, comes on the wings.
Diomande, the 19-year-old RB Leipzig phenomenon and Liverpool’s marquee attacking target, has decided his future lies in Paris if he leaves the Bundesliga this summer. That line first surfaced in RMC Sport, then was underlined by The Athletic’s David Ornstein, who reported that the Ivory Coast international believes in the PSG project shaped by Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Luis Campos, and wants to play under Luis Enrique.
He doesn’t just see trophies. He sees a potential path to the Ballon d’Or.
Liverpool had been prepared to go big – a package approaching €100m – to land him. Leipzig pushed back, holding out for nearer €130m and trying to secure him on improved terms after signing him from Leganes last summer on a deal running to 2030.
Now, RMC report that Diomande has agreed a five-year contract with PSG through his Roc Nation Sport representatives. The French champions are ready to sit down with Leipzig, aiming to find a fee that satisfies the Germans without tearing up their newer, more disciplined wage and fee structure.
Leipzig want around €130m. PSG, for all their wealth, do not want to go that high. The negotiation begins.
Liverpool, for the moment, are on the outside.
Salah’s shadow and a missed moment
At Anfield, the timing could hardly be worse. Mohamed Salah’s future still hovers over everything. The forward line needs fresh dynamism and goals, and Diomande was seen as the kind of signing who could help Liverpool move into a new attacking era.
Missing out on him stings. No dressing it up.
The club will pivot, as they always do, but this was the one winger on the market with both the ceiling and the availability to justify a near-record outlay. Now he appears PSG-bound, lured by the chance to challenge for every major honour every season and grow in a star-studded environment.
Klopp and Salah: tension, then warmth
While the recruitment team wrestle with alternatives, Jurgen Klopp has been reflecting on the man Liverpool still lean on. Speaking to ESPN, the former Liverpool manager opened up on his relationship with Salah, a partnership that delivered extraordinary numbers but wasn’t without friction.
"We are friends now," Klopp said. He explained that during their years together he could never quite be a player’s “best friend” while making ruthless decisions, and that at times football realities created tension. But those days have faded into the background.
"The strongest thing in life is good memories," he said. And now, he added, those memories bind the pair as friends while Salah focuses on his World Cup campaign.
The warmth of those words only sharpens the reality: replacing Salah, whenever that day comes, is one of the most daunting tasks in modern football. Diomande was earmarked as part of that solution. PSG’s move forces Liverpool to redraw the plan.
Brazil, Rayan and another scouting mission
The World Cup continues to double as a live scouting fair. One name with Liverpool links is Bournemouth winger Rayan, who is expected to feature again for Brazil against Japan in Houston in the round of 32.
Rayan started in Brazil’s 3-0 win over Scotland, stepping in for the injured Raphinha, and could keep his place with the Barcelona man still a doubt. His club manager Andoni Iraola brought him to England in January and has been tipped for a reunion if Liverpool come calling.
Rayan carries a £130m release clause that activates next January, though reports suggest clubs might seek a deal on different terms. For now, he has another chance to showcase his pace and directness on the biggest stage, with Liverpool and others watching closely.
El Mala, opportunity in Cologne
If Diomande drifts away, another winger may be drifting into reach.
Cologne’s Said El Mala, 19, looked set for Brentford earlier this year before turning down the move in anticipation of bigger offers. Those offers have not materialised as expected, and Express report that Cologne are now nervous about the lack of serious bidders.
Liverpool and Newcastle have both been linked and remain in the conversation. Cologne are believed to want around £40m to cash in and reinvest, a figure that could tempt a club seeking a high-upside wide forward.
El Mala’s numbers last season were strong: 13 goals and five assists in 34 Bundesliga games. For a teenager, those are serious returns. For Liverpool, he represents a different kind of play than Diomande – less of a ready-made global star, more of a development project with clear end-product.
Nmecha under the microscope
Another name on the rumour mill is Felix Nmecha. The Borussia Dortmund midfielder exploded into the gossip columns with his early World Cup displays for Germany, only to struggle badly in a 2-1 defeat to Ecuador.
Germany face Paraguay at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts on Monday, a game that doubles as another audition. Nmecha is trying to restore momentum after that dip, and both Liverpool and Manchester United are understood to be keeping a close eye on how he responds.
World Cups can change reputations in a matter of days. Nmecha has already felt both sides of that reality.
Guimaraes and the contract race
Further north, Newcastle are fighting to keep hold of their captain.
Bruno Guimaraes, also on World Cup duty with Brazil, has drawn admiring glances from several elite clubs, Liverpool among them. Arsenal reportedly saw a £55m bid rejected, and Newcastle’s response has been to push a huge new contract onto the table.
Reports suggest they are ready to make Guimaraes their highest-paid player ever on £200,000 a week. Even so, it’s understood he has a clause allowing him to leave for £60m after Newcastle failed to qualify for the Champions League.
That figure, if accurate, makes him one of the most attainable elite midfielders in Europe. Newcastle know it. So do Liverpool.
Barcola: the PSG domino?
Back in Paris, one move could trigger another.
With Diomande closing in on PSG, attention has turned to Bradley Barcola, the French winger already on Liverpool’s radar. Fabrizio Romano has repeatedly stressed Liverpool’s admiration, saying Barcola was on their list in the summer of 2025 and remains there for 2026.
He describes Barcola as a “concrete option” for Liverpool, even as PSG insist publicly they don’t want to lose him. Behind the scenes, Romano says, there is “movement” around the player and the situation remains open.
If Diomande arrives in Paris, Barcola’s path to minutes narrows. That’s exactly the sort of crack in the door Liverpool tend to exploit.
Spurs, Gakpo and a different battle
Away from Anfield, another Premier League club is eyeing one of Liverpool’s current forwards.
Former Tottenham full-back Alan Hutton has urged his old side to get serious about Cody Gakpo. Speaking to Betarades, Hutton argued that Gakpo would solve a long-standing issue in Spurs’ wide areas, particularly after injuries to Odobert, Kudus and Kulusevski in recent seasons.
He praised Gakpo’s ability to score from wide, supply central strikers like Solanke and Richarlison, and also operate through the middle when required. In his view, Gakpo’s experience and mentality would help lift Tottenham to “the next level”.
For Liverpool, it’s a reminder that while they chase new attackers, others are circling their existing ones.
PSG’s power play and Liverpool’s gamble
The most immediate concern on Merseyside remains Diomande. Sky Sports News report that the winger prefers a move to PSG and already has a five-year agreement in place with the French champions.
PSG and RB Leipzig have not yet settled on a fee. That gap is the only real space Liverpool have left to operate in.
If the Reds want to crash the party, they may need to do something they rarely do: outbid a state-backed club in a straight financial shootout, paying a “largely fee” that forces Leipzig to listen and PSG to hesitate.
That would mean ripping up the careful financial lines they’ve drawn in recent years. It would mean betting huge on a 19-year-old who has chosen another club in his own mind.
Do Liverpool push everything into the middle of the table for Diomande, or walk away and trust they can build a new attack from the next tier of talent?
In a window increasingly defined by PSG’s ambition, that decision could shape Liverpool’s forward line – and their title prospects – for years.
