Liverpool Can Move Level With Arsenal With £87m Transfer

Andoni Iraola will be tasked with turning around Liverpool's fortunes in the 2026/27 season, following a dismal second campaign under Arne Slot that ended with the Dutchman being sacked.

Slot set the Premier League alight in his first campaign in England, storming to the title in fine style. But the defence of their crown could not have gone much worse, with the only silver lining in their 2025/26 campaign being that they managed to qualify for the UEFA Champions League again.

The Reds finished fifth in the table, just about edging out Bournemouth, who were sixth, three points behind them.

Slot has been replaced in the Anfield dugout by the former Cherries boss Iraola, who left the Vitality Stadium at the end of his contract, having guided the south coast side into Europe for the first time in the club's history.

Now there is more pressure on the Spaniard's shoulders, taking charge of one of the Premier League's elite teams and everyone associated with Liverpool will be expecting the side to challenge once more for the biggest honours.

Iraola is only just getting his feet under the table at Anfield, but will already be thinking about how his squad is going to look for the 2026/27 campaign.

Ibrahima Konate, Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah have already been confirmed as leaving the club, while a number of others could follow, with rumours around the futures of Federico Chiesa, Cody Gakpo and Alexis Mac Allister.

And there is plenty of talk around who could come into the club this summer. One of those on the lips of most supporters is Yan Diomande - the teenage winger who has ripped up the Bundesliga with RB Leipzig this season.

At the age of just 19, Diomande scored 13 goals and laid on 10 assists in 36 appearances in all competitions for the Red Bull outfit during 2025/26 and is a wanted man this summer.

Liverpool have "made progress" in talks with the player's representatives over a move and believe he wants to join, having publicly stated that he was a Reds fan when he was younger, due to his dad. Although he also spoke of his love for Paris Saint-Germain lately, another club who are interested in signing him.

Leipzig will hope that qualifying for the Champions League will help them hang on to the teenager for another season and they have offered him a new deal to tie him down to a longer stay. But there is no indication as yet as to whether he will sign it, with the youngster out in North America with the Ivory Coast for the World Cup.

And Diomande may well have put some extra figures on his price tag after his first performance in the tournament.

Ivory Coast secured a 1-0 win over Ecuador in their opening Group E encounter and the 19-year-old was at the heart of everything the Ivorians did in an attacking sense.

He was named man of the match in Philadelphia, enjoying the most touches (80), creating the most chances (5), winning the most duels (11) and having the most progressive carries (15) and most passes in the attacking third (22) of any player on the pitch.

Liverpool have long been linked with a move for Diomande, for whom Leipzig will demand at least €100million (£87million) if they are to cash in this summer.

Iraola will want ready-made players for a Premier League title challenge and while Diomande is young and has no experience of the English top flight, he did show against Ecuador he is more than up for the fight when it comes to Premier League opposition.

Despite a late wobble, Arsenal looked comfortable for most of the season as they broke their 22-year Premier League drought by winning the title. One player who proved to be an astute signing for the Gunners during their title-winning campaign was Piero Hincapie, the left-back playing 25 of the 38 games, having picked up an injury early on in the season and missing the first five matches, starting 20 of them.

Hincapie has already shown he is a top-level Premier League defender, but Diomande had the beating of him at the World Cup. Hincapie lined up on the other side in the Group E clash, with the Ecuadorian struggling to contain the talented Ivorian youngster.

Hincapie will be having nightmares about the teenager and if Liverpool can secure a big-money move to sign Diomande he may prove crucial to the Reds' challenge for the title once more.

The 19-year-old produced a man-of-the-match display in Ivory Coast's win against Ecuador