"It's fair to say..." - Reliable journalist drops big Yan Diomande to Liverpool transfer update

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Speaking to The Redmen TV [via DaveOCKOP], Jacobs has claimed that other alternatives to Diomande are being looked at closely, ensuring they have a plan in place if the RB Leibzig star doesn’t sign: “As I revealed, three other targets are Mathias Fernandez Pardo, who’s also at the World Cup, Said El Mala, who has had other Premier League interest this window, and Brighton’s Yankuba Mintah. I think it’s fair to say they’re actively working on those alternatives simply because it gives you leverage in the market as well.

“Liverpool are not the kind of club to put all their eggs in one basket, and if they go all in on Diomande and don’t look at these other names, then they have less leverage. So, they’ll want, no doubt, as part of their conversations with Leipzig, for it to be clear that they can move on and there are other viable targets, and they want to be informed by the valuation of those targets too.

“So it can be helpful, as Andrea Berta is doing at Arsenal as well, to kind of concurrently line up multiple deals and then when you’re negotiating with Leipzig, you can point to other availability, other fees, and you can be informed by market movement, and that might mean that you get a better deal, because if Leipzig realised that Liverpool are only looking at Diomande, and Liverpool desperately want Diomande, and there’s competition from PSG for Diomande, and there’s no other options, there’s no other contingencies, there’s no other like for like profiles, then naturally, that price is just going to stay really, really high. “So it’s smart by all well-run clubs to start that extra sort of contingency planning around some of these other targets but if they can get Diomande, he’s obviously the one that they want.” Liverpool must strike Yan Diomande deal this summer To miss out on Diomande now would feel like a big setback for Liverpool, considering how much interest they have shown in him this summer.