Liverpool and Tottenham Target Norway’s Andreas Schjelderup

Liverpool and Tottenham are circling one of Norway’s brightest talents, with Andreas Schjelderup emerging as a live option in a winger market that is already shaping this summer’s Premier League arms race. At the same time, noise around Liverpool’s pursuit of Yan Diomande has been sharply corrected, with claims of a huge second bid firmly knocked back.

Liverpool’s wide rebuild gathers pace

Liverpool have already fired the starting gun on their wide rebuild. Victor Munoz is through the door, signed from Newcastle United in a €40million (£34.5m) deal that underlines how serious Anfield is about reshaping its attacking options.

Munoz will scrap with Cody Gakpo for minutes on the left, but his arrival doesn’t close the book on Liverpool’s work out wide. Mohamed Salah has walked away on a free, leaving a cavernous hole on the right. Gakpo, meanwhile, may be asked to plug gaps through the middle, helping Alexander Isak until Hugo Ekitike returns from an Achilles injury.

So the search continues. And it is starting to branch out.

Schjelderup draws Premier League eyes

Italian outlet Tuttomercatoweb report that Liverpool are tracking Benfica’s Schjelderup, with Tottenham Hotspur also in the frame. Both clubs are described as “following” the 22‑year‑old closely ahead of potential talks, while Atletico Madrid, AC Milan and Como are also hovering.

Schjelderup arrives on the radar off the back of a standout year. He featured in Norway’s first two World Cup group games, a natural progression from an impressive club season in Lisbon. For Benfica he produced 10 goals and seven assists in 43 appearances, driving an unbeaten Primeira Liga campaign under Jose Mourinho, even if that remarkable run still fell short of the title.

Benfica originally paid €14m to bring him in. His value has rocketed. Initial suggestions put his price at around €30m (£26m), “more than double” that fee, but the Portuguese newspaper Record has drawn a firmer line: the club will only seriously entertain offers of €40m or more.

Record also report that Spurs have “burst into the race”, pushing themselves alongside Liverpool in the chase for the left-sided forward. TMW back up that interest, adding another layer to what is fast becoming a crowded field.

Diomande saga: reality check on Liverpool bid

While Schjelderup’s name gathers momentum, the Diomande story needed a reset.

On Thursday, speculation swirled that Liverpool had raised their offer for the RB Leipzig star to a staggering €116m (£100m), after seeing an opening €100m (£86m) proposal turned down. That would have been a huge escalation.

It wasn’t. Sky Germany’s Philipp Hinze moved quickly to shut that down, calling the claims “not true” and making it clear “there has not yet been a second offer.”

Inside Anfield, the debate is still live. Liverpool’s hierarchy are weighing up whether to go back in, with a new bid expected to land somewhere between €116m and €120m (up to £104m) if they decide to pull the trigger.

That sort of figure would demand serious consideration from Leipzig. It might not be enough.

Leipzig’s stance remains hard. As revealed on June 19, they are holding out for a Bundesliga‑record €148m (£128m). The message is blunt: they want Diomande to stay for at least one more season, and only an extraordinary fee changes that plan.

Why Diomande still sits top of the list

Even with Schjelderup’s rise and Benfica’s willingness to deal at the right price, Liverpool’s priority has not shifted. Diomande is still the one they want most.

The reasoning is straightforward. Schjelderup operates primarily from the left, an area already reinforced by Munoz and occupied by Gakpo. He is a talent, but he overlaps with what Liverpool have just paid heavily to secure.

Diomande is different. He offers genuine two‑flank threat, equally effective on either side. In a squad that has just lost Salah and could see Gakpo’s role pulled centrally, that flexibility turns him from a luxury target into a strategic one.

So Liverpool stand at a familiar crossroads: pay close to record money for the player they truly believe transforms their attack, or pivot to a cheaper, still‑high‑ceiling option like Schjelderup and spread the budget elsewhere.

Tottenham, sensing opportunity, are already in the slipstream for the Norwegian. The question now is whether Liverpool choose to floor the accelerator for Diomande, or accept that the market – and Leipzig’s resolve – might yet force them down a different path.