Liverpool's Summer Target Shift: Pulisic as Diomande Slips Away
Liverpool’s pursuit of Yan Diomande is slipping away, and with it, the club’s marquee attacking plan for the summer. But as one door edges shut, a familiar name has been thrown into the frame by a man who knows Anfield as well as anyone: Robbie Fowler.
The former Liverpool striker believes Christian Pulisic could be the answer.
Diomande drifts towards Paris
Liverpool went hard for Diomande. An offer worth $113.9 million — $91.1m up front and $22.8m in add-ons — underlined just how highly the club rated the RB Leipzig winger. At 19, already a full Ivory Coast international and now on show at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, he had been earmarked as a priority signing.
The bid was rejected. That was the first warning sign.
The second came with reports that Diomande has now chosen Paris Saint-Germain as his preferred destination and agreed a five-year contract to move to the French champions. PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi has already opened direct talks with Leipzig and is said to be confident of closing the deal.
If that happens, Liverpool will have lost a major target not on price, but on preference.
Backup list… and a wildcard
Liverpool have not been caught cold. The recruitment team is understood to have drawn up a list of alternatives, with four names already circulating: Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh, Cologne’s Said El Mala, Lille’s Matias Fernandez-Pardo and West Ham’s Crysencio Summerville, as previously reported by The Athletic.
Each fits the familiar Liverpool profile: young, upward curve, resale value, room to grow.
Fowler, though, is looking at a different lane entirely.
“Plenty of rumours about as to who's going to @LFC. One name I've not seen mentioned is Pulisic,” he wrote on X. “Good age, played in the Prem, exciting player, I'd take him, potentially a Salah type of pathway, thoughts?”
It was a pointed suggestion. Not a wonderkid. Not a project. A player already proven at the highest level, who could walk into the dressing room and cope with the weight of the shirt from day one.
Pulisic’s profile: proven and restless
Pulisic is in the thick of a World Cup on home soil with the United States, having featured in two of three group games as Mauricio Pochettino’s side topped Group D to reach the knockouts. His performances there will only sharpen interest.
At club level, the 27-year-old is an established figure at AC Milan after rebuilding his reputation in Serie A. Before that, he logged 98 Premier League appearances for Chelsea between 2019 and 2023, scoring 20 league goals. He knows English football, its tempo, its scrutiny, its winter.
His numbers last season — 10 goals and 4 assists — fall short of Diomande’s 13 goals and 10 assists, but context matters. Pulisic has been operating in a more structured Milan system, often tasked with balance as much as chaos. The raw talent, the ability to break lines off the dribble and arrive in scoring positions, remains obvious.
And the timing is intriguing.
Pulisic has just one year left on his Milan contract, though the club holds an option to extend by another 12 months. TEAMtalk reports that he is disappointed not to have been offered a new deal on terms that reflect his status as one of Serie A’s standout attackers. That lack of movement has reportedly prompted his camp to explore a return to the Premier League.
Back in February, Liverpool were among the English clubs linked with contact with his entourage. Those conversations, if reignited, would now take place with the World Cup as a live shop window.
For Milan, the equation is simple: cash in now at a strong price, or risk a depreciating asset — or a contentious renewal — further down the line.
A Salah-style route?
Fowler’s comparison to Mohamed Salah is not about likeness of talent, but trajectory. Salah returned to England with unfinished business after his Chelsea stint and exploded at Anfield. Pulisic, another former Chelsea winger who has rebuilt himself abroad, fits that storyline.
He is older than Diomande and would not be a like-for-like replacement in terms of age profile or ceiling. But he would arrive with a decade of elite experience, the maturity of a national-team talisman, and the versatility to operate across the front line.
Liverpool’s existing shortlist suggests the club is leaning younger. Fowler’s shout asks a different question: in a summer where the club might lose its top target to PSG, is there room for a more immediate, battle-hardened solution?
The answer may depend on how badly Liverpool want guaranteed impact over long-term upside — and how long Milan are prepared to wait before turning interest into hard negotiations.
