Football Presse

Diomandé makes plea amid Liverpool and PSG "noise" to focus on World Cup

·By Paul Lindisfarne
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Diomandé makes plea amid Liverpool and PSG "noise" to focus on World Cup

RB Leipzig/X.com

Yan Diomandé has asked to be left in peace over his future until the World Cup is finished as Liverpool and PSG circle the RB Leipzig winger after his debut Bundesliga season.

Diomandé, 19, joined RB Leipzig last summer and immediately delivered, scoring 12 goals and adding eight assists in 33 league appearances — 28 of them from the start.

His performances drew a steady stream of transfer speculation throughout the season, with Liverpool understood to have made multiple bids for the Ivory Coast international.

PSG have also entered the race, with Bild reporting the French club are ready to table an offer. But Diomandé himself is in no rush to engage with any of it. Ivory Coast reached the last 32 after finishing second in their group, and that is where his focus sits.

"I'm not thinking about my future after the World Cup," he told Sky Sports. "I'm trying to put all my energy into the World Cup, and then we'll see what happens afterwards. I can't say anything about the future."

Leipzig contracted Diomandé until the summer of 2030 when they signed him last year, which gives them a strong negotiating position regardless of how many clubs are interested.

Any sale this summer would require a substantial offer to move them, and with the player's value having risen sharply on the back of his domestic form and World Cup involvement, the asking price is unlikely to be modest.

Liverpool's interest has been the most persistent. They have been linked with multiple approaches and the attacking profile Diomandé offers — pace, directness and a consistent goal return — fits what Arne Slot's system demands from wide positions.

Ivory Coast face France or Norway in the round of 32. Whether Diomandé's tournament run extends beyond that point will determine when the transfer conversation picks up in earnest.