Liverpool Targets Diomande and Eichhorn to Support Iraola

Liverpool have wasted no time showing Andoni Iraola exactly how serious they are about this new era at Anfield.

Barely hours after confirming the Spaniard on a two-year deal as Arne Slot’s successor, the club’s recruitment machine has shifted into top gear, with work already advanced on reshaping a squad that limped to fifth in the Premier League and has just lost three pillars of recent years.

Andy Robertson, Mohamed Salah and Ibrahima Konaté have all departed on free transfers. That is a huge chunk of experience, leadership and quality gone in one summer. It also leaves glaring gaps – none bigger than the right flank where Salah terrorised defences for seven seasons.

Liverpool, though, have a plan.

Diomande targeted as Salah heir

Attention has quickly turned to RB Leipzig’s teenage winger Yan Diomande, the player earmarked as a potential long-term successor to Salah.

Respected reporter David Ornstein has confirmed that Liverpool are now in contact with Leipzig over a deal for the Ivory Coast international, who has just completed a breakout campaign in the Bundesliga. At 19, Diomande has already delivered the kind of numbers that make elite clubs sit up: 13 goals and 10 assists in his first full senior season.

Leipzig are digging in. The German club are determined not to sell and are prepared to demand around £112m if they do soften their stance. It is a price that reflects both his production and his potential, and one that instantly narrows the field of realistic buyers.

Yet Liverpool are understood to be ahead of Paris Saint-Germain in the race. From the player’s side, the Merseysiders are in a strong position, drawn to a winger whose blend of direct running, end product and fearlessness fits neatly into the club’s recent attacking lineage.

If Diomande is the headline move, Liverpool’s recruitment team are working a second track at the same time.

Liverpool step up pursuit of Eichhorn

Behind the big numbers and big fees sits another push – this one aimed at the future.

Hertha Berlin’s Kennet Eichhorn, just 16, has emerged as one of the most coveted young midfielders in Europe, and Liverpool are pushing hard. Sky Sports journalist Florian Plettenberg reported on Thursday that the club held new talks within the last 48 hours as they attempt to move to the front of the queue.

Eichhorn is expected to be on the move this summer after Hertha failed to secure promotion back to the Bundesliga. The situation has alerted a cluster of heavyweights. Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund are already in the frame, with Liverpool trying to tempt him to England at the earliest stage of his career.

For now, the teenager is described as open to all options. That gives Liverpool a window – but not a guarantee.

A 16-year-old compared to Kroos

If Diomande looks like a ready-made attacking weapon, Eichhorn is being talked about in Germany with even more excitement.

Still 16, and not 17 until next month, he has already made 19 senior appearances for Hertha. That level of trust in someone so young underlines how highly he is rated inside the club. Without an ankle injury and a red-card suspension late in the season, that total would likely be higher.

Tall, composed and technically assured, Eichhorn has shown a calmness in possession that belongs to a player far older. Promoted to the first team in recent months, he has handled the step up with a maturity that has only intensified outside interest.

Scouts from Liverpool, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Barcelona have already watched him. That list alone tells its own story. Whether all of those clubs decide to join the formal race this summer remains to be seen, but the spotlight is already fierce.

Inside the Hertha dressing room, the praise has been just as strong. Club captain Fabian Reese has called him “an incredible, exceptional talent”, and in his homeland he has been likened to Toni Kroos – a comparison that sets the bar at the very highest level.

For Liverpool, these two pursuits – Diomande for the here and now, Eichhorn for the decade to come – hint at a clear strategy. Back Iraola with immediate firepower, and quietly lock down the next generation before the rest of Europe fully catches up.