RB Leipzig youngster Yan Diomande “has been watched extensively” by Liverpool, according to Merseyside journalist David Lynch.

• Extensive scouting: Reliable journalist David Lynch confirms the 19-year-old RB Leipzig winger has been watched “extensively” by Liverpool.
• High output: Diomande has already registered 17 goal contributions (10G, 7A) this season, outperforming several of Liverpool’s current senior forwards.
• Premium price: RB Leipzig are reportedly open to negotiations, but the Ivory Coast international could cost upwards of £87 million.

The need for new wide attacking signings has become great for the Reds this season, with Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo both toiling.

Luis Diaz wasn’t replaced when he joined Bayern Munich last summer, with 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha the only legitimate backup option currently.

According to Lynch on his Substack, Diomande is a player who Liverpool have watched “extensively,” as they look to “bolster their options out wide” at the end of the season.

He also points out that Salah and Gakpo’s struggles may have been down to “some of the most disciplined and athletic low blocks” the Premier League “has ever seen.”

The focus on set-pieces and physicality hasn’t helped them, with Bukayo Saka, Anthony Gordon and Pedro Neto also name-checked as not setting the world alight.

It is easy to see why Liverpool see Diomande as an exciting option to add to their attack in the summer window.

The 19-year-old has already registered 17 goal contributions in just 26 appearances for Leipzig – 10 goals and seven assists – showing that he is delivering consistent end product at a young age.

Diomande and Bayern Munich winger Michael Olise have been linked with moves to Liverpool at different times, and signing both would be significant business.

But whether the Reds have enough funds to do that, and strengthen in other areas such as centre-back, remains to be seen.

The Mail‘s Lewis Steele reports that Leipzig are “open to negotiations” for approximately €100 million (£87.2m) – Diomande is under contract until 2030 – and that fee could look like a bargain as time passes.

[embedded content]

Diomande is equally capable of thriving on the right and left wing, so he could be considered an upgrade on Gakpo and long-term competition for Ngumoha.

Olise may then be seen as the perfect heir to Salah, already having Premier League experience from his eye-catching spell at Crystal Palace.

Regardless of what happens with Olise, though, Diomande should be pursued, with the nine-cap and three-goal Ivory Coast international a big signing for both the present and the future.

Adblock test (Why?)

Liverpool U18s were beaten 3-0 at home to Man City U18s on Saturday lunchtime, with Emile Heskey’s son playing a key role for the visitors.

U18 Premier League, Kirkby Academy
March 7, 2026

Goals: Lamb pen 15′, Headley 61′, Samba 74′

Simon Wiles’ youngsters faced one of their most difficult games of the season at the Academy, coming up against the U18 Premier League leaders.

Virgil van Dijk watched on from the sidelines, as he often does, the morning after captaining Liverpool to a 3-1 win away at Wolves in the FA Cup.

City had Reigan Heskey starting for them – son of the former Liverpool striker, Emile Heskey – and he looked a threat from the off.

Virgil van Dijk in attendance at Kirkby Academy ? #LFCU18s pic.twitter.com/onuhRktQZe

— The LFC Academy (@LFCAcademyX) March 7, 2026

It didn’t take long for the visitors to take the lead, with Teddie Lamb scoring from the penalty spot, having earlier seen another spot-kick saved by Kornel Misciur.

Prince Cisse was agonisingly close to levelling the scores minutes later, but his header didn’t quite make it over the line.

It was almost a carbon copy of last weekend’s goal, when the 17-year-old scored on his Liverpool U21s debut, but this time the ‘keeper produced an incredible save.

Half time: Liverpool U18s 0-1 Man City U18s

Liverpool tried their best to find an equaliser early in the second half, with the in-form Josh Sonni-Lambie missing the target.

He and La’more Lee Forrester were both threats for the Reds.

City doubled their advantage soon after, however, with Heskey teeing up Dante Headley to head home and put them in complete control.

Xavier Parker brilliantly added a third for City with 16 minutes remaining, showing precisely why they are leading the way this season.

The defeat means that Liverpool stay fourth in the table, behind Merseyside rivals Everton on goal difference.

Wiles’ side’s next assignment is a trip to Wolves next Saturday (11.30am GMT) in the league.

Liverpool U18s: Misciur; O’Connor, Ayman, Cisse (Conde 86′), Clarke; Upton (Hickman 84′), Murray-Holme (Eden 46′),Farkas; Yeguo (Konde 84′), Lee Forrester, Sonni-Lambie

Unused subs: Hilditch

Next Match: Wolves U18s (A) – U18 Premier League – Saturday, March 14, 11.30am (GMT)

Adblock test (Why?)

Wolves manager Rob Edwards says his side were powerless to do anything to stop Liverpool, claiming they produced the “best version” of themselves at Molineux.

That was more like it, wasn’t it?

After an awful showing at Wolves on Tuesday night, Liverpool won 3-1 to book a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Friday.

Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, Edwards heaped praise on the Reds, admitting that they found their groove against his team.

"Liverpool are a bit good aren't they?" ?

Wolves manager Rob Edwards reflects as his Wolves side bow out of the FA Cup.

?? @julesbreach | ? @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/KebMNFzUGC

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 6, 2026

“I think Liverpool are a bit good, aren’t they?” Edwards said.

“I thought we saw the best version of them tonight. Credit where credit’s due, they deserved it, they were better.

“We gave everything, but we couldn’t find a way tonight.

“Whether it was a counter-attack or trying to go through them with any build-up, or even get behind them, it was really difficult to put a dent on them really.

“I think the killer moment for us – even at 1-0 down we were still in the game – was the timing of the second goal straight after our kick-off.

“It almost sealed it and that’s frustrating for us. It’s the one bit I’m really annoyed about tonight because anything can happen.

“Obviously, we got a goal late – if we were still in it in those later stages, then you never know, but I thought they were outstanding. I can’t fault our players.

“There’s levels and I thought they were at a really high level tonight.”

This was much improved from Liverpool, who were impressive in the second half, finding their top level and winning handsomely.

It shows what this Reds side is capable of, which in many ways makes this season all the more frustrating.

There is world-class talent littered throughout the squad, and it’s now a case of finding consistency in the performances and results until May.

There is still a huge amount to play for, and winning the Champions League has to be seen as a genuine target for Liverpool, as well as the FA Cup.

[embedded content]

It is easy to forget that Rafa Benitez‘s Reds won the competition from nowhere in 2005, finishing fifth in the Premier League, and this is a superior group of players.

The one thing holding Liverpool back is their unpredictability from week to week, and Arne Slot will know it is threatening to lose him his job.

The Reds must now kick on from this win, rather than producing a limp showing at Galatasaray in the Champions League on Tuesday, both in terms of quality and mentality.

They have born winners and legends in their squad – Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah came to the fore against Wolves – and they can ensure that the next few months are memorable.

Adblock test (Why?)

Liverpool pulled off the revenge mission over Wolves to progress with a 3-1 win in the FA Cup, as Rio Ngumoha stole the show but the warning signs still linger.

FA Cup Fifth Round | Molineux
March 6, 2026

Goals: Hwang 90+1′; Robertson 51′, Salah 53′, Jones 73′

Started at last and picked up Man of the Match. A composed, mature, electric performance. Every box ticked, good in and out of possession and didn’t once look like a teenager playing against men.

Arne Slot will now have a sizeable headache when it comes to reconsidering how much to increase the game time of the 17-year-old.

The expectation is huge yet this schoolboy keeps delivering again and again.

The Reds leave Wolverhampton with a healthy scoreline, but before the hosts keeled over we did see a pretty familiar pattern unfold.

The first half panned out in much the usual manner: Liverpool banking endless amounts of possession and doing next to nothing with it.

Slot has always championed possession and control, he has the accolades and silverware to back it up. Yet Liverpool are hardly mirroring the Man City of old, who could kill a team by a thousand cuts.

The slow burn of possession, when done correctly, builds like a tidal wave and crashes down upon an opponent once they’ve ran out of legs.

Liverpool are still at risk of oversanitising their possession and coming away with little, despite getting the job done here. The greatly improved second-half performance needs to be the blueprint going forward.

Unpredictability is what Liverpool really do not have anymore.

Granted, with the likes of record signing duo Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak out of the team there is some explanation for this.

In an ideal world Liverpool would be now reaping the benefit of months of football in the legs of both players, but the injury gods have had other plans.

And so Liverpool have been left as a rather one-dimensional, predictable outfit. Ability-wise they’re better than almost everyone but that counts for little when lesser opposition know exactly what you’re going to do.

It comes as no surprise then to see Ngumoha shining so brightly. The wonderkid fizzes with flair and his markers have no clue what he’s going to do.

Like Liverpool last season, who had an unknown style set down by a new manager, Ngumoha can use the element of surprise very much to his benefit.

This is rather ironic, given large portions of the season so far have seen the theme of shotgun substitutions all coming on together in the latter stages.

Liverpool and Slot aren’t exactly following that mantra anymore, but things are being left rather late before the game plan is tweaked.

Far too often now have we seen a very weak and lacklustre first-half showing being followed by exactly the same XI, set up in exactly the same way, for the second period.

Keeping things consistent is obviously important, but it’s not important at all if your Plan A doesn’t appear to be working.

Slot comes away from this fixture vindicated given Liverpool found a purple patch just before the hour mark and put the game to bed, but against more superior opponents it’s easy to envisage that such an upturn would’ve been much more difficult.

Liverpool’s nailed-on candidate for Player of the Season so far has done an admirable job of filling in across the back line, but Szoboszlai remaining at right-back despite the introduction of Jeremie Frimpong was a peculiar one.

There is an obvious case to be made for the raw pace of the Dutchman making sense to terrorise the wing in the latter stages, but Szoboszlai remained pinned to the wider areas as a result.

The first half saw the Hungarian limited, as Liverpool repeatedly recycled the ball out wide in hope of feeding the wingers in behind. The final balls came to nothing and the process was copy-and-pasted again and again until the half-time whistle sounded.

It feels like a sticking point which needs to be addressed going forward – impeding the momentum of your most in-form player is never ideal.

Adblock test (Why?)

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot praised the enduring quality of Andy Robertson after the veteran defender scored one and created another for Mohamed Salah in the 3-1 FA Cup fifth-round win at Wolves.

The Scotland captain, who turns 32 next week, made the crucial breakthrough against the hosts’ massed ranks in the 51st minute with a 25-yard drive and then less than three minutes later crossed for his team-mate to fire into the roof of the net.

Curtis Jones added the third to render Hwang Hee-chan’s added-time consolation academic.

[embedded content]

“If you talk about a goal and an assist, the first player you think about is probably not a full-back,” said Slot of Robertson, who could possibly have left the club in January after a bid from Tottenham.

“He loves the club and he loves to play in front of these fans. Robbo has in the one-and-a-half years I am here given everything for the club and the fans will say he did it in all the years I was not here.

“He tries to give his best, defending well, calm with a lot of composure on the ball.”

Robertson also played an important supporting role behind 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha, who put in a man-of-the-match performance in only his fifth senior start for the club as one of four changes from the dreadful 2-1 league defeat at Molineux on Tuesday.

“I think it is special if you are 17 and you played in a Premier League game – I know it is FA Cup but two Premier League teams – and are able to impact it in one-v-one situations,” Slot added.

“In my opinion he did better than three days ago because he kept the ball more.

“Today he was even better in moments when he had to keep the ball. It’s a nice game as you face five defenders [so] defensively you don’t have to do as much and can use all your energy for the attacking part.”

Wolves head coach Rob Edwards accepted it was too much for his side to go head-to-head against Liverpool twice in four days.

“Not a tough one to take, the better team won. They were really good tonight and it was hard for us. No qualms or excuses, their level was excellent,” he said.

“At half-time I was relatively happy, we were limiting them to long-range shots, but not too many efforts, and the most frustrating thing for me was the timing of the second goal, that was the killer.

“We needed to remain in it longer and that second one was really frustrating. That is the thing I am most disappointed in.

“A double-header against Liverpool is hard. For us to win one of those we have to take that as a big positive.

“We tried tonight, but their level went up and they made it very difficult.”

Adblock test (Why?)

Alexis Mac Allister was helped off the pitch by medical staff during Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Wolves but, speaking after the game, Arne Slot ruled out an injury.

Mac Allister was already set to be replaced by Trey Nyoni late on in Friday’s FA Cup clash at Molineux when he suffered a nasty collision with Hwang Hee-chan.

The Wolves forward’s trailing leg caught the midfielder’s foot and he required treatment on the pitch with director of medicine Jonathan Power attending to him.

But while that sparked immediate concerns over an injury, in his post-match press conference Slot all but confirmed it was not a major issue.

Asked if Mac Allister was OK the head coach replied: “I think so, yeah.”

[embedded content]

That will clearly serve as a boost as Liverpool head into the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash with Galatasaray on Tuesday evening.

Florian Wirtz made his return from a two-game absence as a late substitute against Wolves and with both Joe Gomez and Jeremie Frimpong now fit and able to start, Slot has options in every position again.

All being well he is likely to start Mac Allister alongside Ryan Gravenberch in his usual two-man midfield but could face a decision over which of Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo to start.

Hugo Ekitike will come back in up front in Istanbul and it could be that Slot deploys Wirtz on the left wing and Szoboszlai as his No. 10.

Liverpool are still contending with long-term injuries to Alexander Isak, Conor Bradley, Wataru Endo and Giovanni Leoni, but Isak is nearing a return following a broken leg.

If the Reds progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League it could be that the Swede is available to face either Chelsea or Paris Saint-Germain in that tie.

Adblock test (Why?)