Kylian Mbappe wowed by £120m winger Liverpool bid to sign as Mo Salah replacement – ‘he has quality’
Liverpool made Bradley Barcola their marquee winger signing in the summer transfer window following the departure of Mohamed Salah from Anfield, but it could have been Yan Diomande instead.
Diomande joined Real Madrid from RB Leipzig in early August for a fee worth up to €140million (£120m, $160.5m).
It came after a stunning season in Germany, where the Ivory Coast international winger scored 13 goals and gave 10 assists in 36 appearances for RB Leipzig.
Liverpool had Yan Diomande bid rejected
Before Real Madrid eventually secured the services of the 19-year-old, Paris Saint-Germain wanted to sign the teenager, and before last season’s Ligue 1 and UEFA Champions League winners became serious about him, Liverpool had made him their number one target to replace Mo Salah.
TEAMtalk’s transfer insider, Graeme Bailey, reported back on May 31 that then Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes was pushing to sign Diomande.
Sources told us at the time that Liverpool had made Diomande their number one winger target to replace the departing Mo Salah.
However, as reported by Sky Sports on July 26, Liverpool had a bid of £85.4million for Diomande rejected by Leipzig.
Liverpool reportedly did not want to pay more than £85m for the former Leganes star.
Diomande eventually ended up at Madrid, while Liverpool signed French winger Barcola from PSG for £123million.
The teenager has not had best of starts at Madrid, though, with manager Jose Mourinho easing him into his team.
Diomande has made only two starts in LaLiga and has played just 11 minutes in the Champions League for Madrid so far this campaign.
Kylian Mbappe praises Real Madrid teammate Yan Diomande
Madrid striker Mbappe has backed Diomande to showcase his talent at Estadio Bernabeu on a regular basis and has revealed that he has been blown away by his teammate in training.
Mbappe told AS about Diomande: “He’s at a stage in his development.
“Building relationships between the players, as a team, is key.
“Diomande is part of that right now.
“From his first day at Valdebebas, we saw he has quality.
“Then people talk a lot during matches, about the €140 million transfer fee and all that.
“He’s young, only 19, but the quality is there.
“We see it, and he’s already shown he has what it takes.
“We try to protect him, and all the players in the squad, because ultimately we’re going to need everyone.
“A season is very long, and if we want to compete for all the titles, we can’t compete with just eleven players.”
