Liverpool Moves Quickly to Support Iraola's New Era
Liverpool have wasted no time showing Andoni Iraola exactly how serious they are about reshaping his squad.
Barely hours after confirming the Spaniard on a two-year deal as Arne Slot’s successor, the club’s recruitment machine has lurched into top gear, with major work already under way to repair a squad that finished fifth and has just lost three heavyweights for nothing.
Andy Robertson, Mohamed Salah and Ibrahima Konate have all departed on free transfers. That kind of exodus would sting any club; at Anfield, it demands an aggressive response.
Diomande: the heir to Salah?
The headline pursuit is clear. Liverpool are deep in talks as they try to identify a long-term successor to Salah, and attention has locked onto RB Leipzig’s teenage winger Yan Diomande.
David Ornstein has confirmed that Liverpool are now in contact with Leipzig over a deal for the Ivory Coast international, who has just delivered a breakout season that has lit up the Bundesliga. Leipzig, though, are in no mood to fold.
The German side are determined to keep him and, if they do even consider a sale, are ready to demand around £112m. A statement price for a 19-year-old – but that is the level Diomande has reached in a single, explosive campaign.
Despite the stance in Saxony, Liverpool are understood to be ahead of Paris Saint-Germain in the race. Player-side, they hold the strongest hand. Diomande’s numbers explain why: 13 goals and 10 assists in his first full season of senior football, wrapped in the kind of fearless, direct wing play that fits Anfield’s taste for chaos and incision.
Liverpool see a livewire wide forward, already decisive at elite level, who can grow into the kind of talisman Salah became. The chase will be expensive. It will also be competitive. But this is the type of deal that signals a new manager is being backed, not merely handed a patched-up version of last year’s side.
Liverpool step up push for Eichhorn
While Diomande dominates the headlines, Liverpool’s gaze is not fixed solely on the present. In Germany, another file sits open on the recruitment desk: Kennet Eichhorn of Hertha Berlin.
Sky Sports journalist Florian Plettenberg reported on Thursday that Liverpool have held fresh talks in the last 48 hours as they push hard to land the 16-year-old midfielder. Not one for the bench tomorrow, perhaps, but very much one for the next decade.
Hertha’s failure to secure promotion back to the Bundesliga has changed the landscape. It has left the door ajar for Europe’s elite to test their resolve, and Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund are already in the queue alongside Liverpool.
At this stage of the summer, Plettenberg says, Eichhorn is open to all options. That gives Liverpool a window. The Premier League club are clearly leaning into it, working to persuade the teenager that his future should run through Anfield rather than remain in Germany.
The 16-year-old who plays like a veteran
If Diomande looks like a ready-made attacking weapon, Eichhorn brings a different kind of excitement.
The Germany Under-17 international does not turn 17 until next month, yet he already has 19 senior appearances for Hertha to his name. That kind of exposure at 16 tells its own story about how he is viewed inside the club.
Only an ankle injury and a red-card suspension late in the season stopped that tally from climbing even higher. When he has played, he has not looked like a kid thrown in out of necessity. He has looked like he belongs.
Tall, composed, technically assured – the descriptions sound familiar, the hallmarks of the modern European midfielder. What stands out is the maturity. Promoted to Hertha’s first team in recent months, Eichhorn has handled the step up with a calm that belies his age.
Scouts have noticed. Liverpool, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Barcelona have all tracked him already. That list alone underlines the level of potential in play and raises an obvious question: who makes the first decisive move?
Inside the Hertha dressing room, the hype is just as loud. Club captain Fabian Reese has called him “an incredible, exceptional talent”, while in Germany he has already drawn comparisons with Toni Kroos. It is a lofty reference point, but it shows how his game is being framed: a controller, a passer, a player who can dictate rather than simply participate.
For Liverpool and Iraola, the equation is clear. Diomande would be a statement signing for the here and now, a direct attempt to fill the void left by Salah. Eichhorn would be a bet on the future, a teenager shaped to grow into the heart of a new midfield.
Two very different profiles. One common theme: a club moving aggressively to ensure this summer marks the start of something, not the beginning of a slow decline.
