Liverpool's Search for Right-Sided Star: Diomande vs. Minteh
Liverpool’s search for a new right‑sided star is starting to look like a high‑stakes two‑horse race, with the price tags underlining just how big this decision will be.
Mohamed Salah’s departure after nine glittering years has ripped a hole in Liverpool’s attack. The brief for the recruitment team is brutally simple: find the next man to carry that flank, that workload, that responsibility. The name at the top of the list is clear – RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande – but the numbers attached to him are forcing Liverpool to study the market with a colder eye.
Diomande: the €130m statement
Diomande is the headline act. Leipzig value the Ivory Coast winger at around €130million (£112m), a fee that would put him among the most expensive signings in Premier League history. Liverpool have already tested the waters with a £90m offer, and Leipzig turned it away.
The rejection hasn’t cooled Liverpool’s interest. If anything, it has sharpened their intent. Since Andoni Iraola walked through the door at Anfield, talks have accelerated. Liverpool have gone beyond the usual sales pitch, laying out a detailed vision of the future and exactly where Diomande fits into it.
He is being sold the idea of becoming Salah’s true heir on the right, not just another big signing. That notion has struck a chord. Sources around the deal suggest Liverpool are increasingly confident the player wants Anfield. His performances for Ivory Coast at the World Cup have only driven his stock higher, but they have also reinforced Liverpool’s belief that this is the man to front their new era.
Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano has echoed that mood, stressing that the club’s real work right now is on the player’s side of the deal: persuading Diomande to push Leipzig and make it clear he wants Liverpool. The club believe that once he does, the pressure on Leipzig will grow.
The message from inside Anfield is simple: they still think this can get done.
Minteh: the £40m alternative
Yet Liverpool are not walking into this blind. They know there is a line they might refuse to cross on Diomande’s fee, and they have a contingency ready if that moment arrives.
Brighton winger Yankuba Minteh is expected to be one of the first names they turn to if Diomande proves unattainable. The Seagulls’ wide man would cost around £40m – a staggering £72m less than the Leipzig star.
This is not a like‑for‑like downgrade so much as a different type of play. Minteh offers raw pace, direct running and genuine threat in one‑v‑one situations, qualities that fit neatly with Iraola’s high‑tempo, front‑foot football. At £40m, he also fits a far more conservative financial profile, giving Liverpool flexibility in other areas of the squad.
Liverpool have not abandoned the Diomande pursuit to move for Minteh. The Brighton man is a live option, a budget‑savvy alternative waiting in the wings if negotiations in Germany hit a wall. The club are understood to have ring‑fenced that £40m figure, ready to act quickly if the strategy shifts.
For now, though, all roads still lead to Leipzig. Liverpool are pushing hard, Diomande is listening, and the idea of becoming the face of a new Liverpool era is on the table.
Whether they end up unveiling a €130m superstar or a £40m climber from Brighton will say a lot about how bold this new regime is prepared to be.
